Chapter 1
The Fourth Kazekage was shifting through the list of ninja available. He quickly separated the genin and the chuunin ninja. They wouldn't fit for the mission. He needed an ANBU or a jounin at least, even then not all of them will succeed. He gritted his teeth in annoyance.
Yashamaru, Gaara's uncle and caretaker was out in a long-term mission—courtesy of the Suna Council. He didn't know what those old-so-called 'council' want with Yashamaru—or Gaara in that matter—that they urged him to send him out.
The mission only took a month, but then it would be a Gaara caretaker-less-month and he certainly wouldn't allow Gaara to be alone even for a day. He had to find a substitute caretaker—one who could supervise Gaara to make sure he wouldn't hurt anyone.
The problem was he didn't know which one to pick. Most of the ninja in Sunagakure wouldn't even go near Gaara, even some of them who weren't afraid, hated Gaara with every inch of their lives and wouldn't hesitate to kill him even if it was suicidal.
He didn't care about Gaara's wellbeing—really—but he damn well couldn't let 'the perfect weapon' die.
He flipped through the ANBU list when a name caught his eyes.
Kazuno Yuka. The youngest ANBU member. A prodigy. She was an anomaly within the other ANBU because she was a cheerful and carefree person by heart, could be serious if the situation asked for it. She never lets herself getting swept by others judgement before she saw the fact. The important thing was, she never called Gaara as demon.
He paused at the page. A sigh escaped his lips. Finally—He had found the perfect person for this mission.
"ANBU " He called.
An ANBU suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. The Fourth Kazekage looked boredly.
" Call Kazuno Yuka immediately. It is urgent. " He ordered.
" Yes, Kazekage-sama. " the ANBU bowed low and shunshin away.
Kazuno Yuka. The 12 year old ANBU prodigy was standing in front of the Fourth Kazekage. She had just finished the last assassination mission this morning. She hadn't even walked 10 steps into Suna when another ANBU came ( appeared suddenly ) and told her that she had an urgent call from the Kazekage.
Yuka fought against the urge to twitch or snap at the Kazekage who had scrutinized her long enough. He hadn't even said anything for a good 5 minutes. Which part of this was urgent anyway ?
The Kazekage finally,—finally —opened his mouth. He grabbed a mission paper and looked back at Yuka.
"I want to give you a babysitting mission." He said.
" What ? " she blurted out unconsciously.
" I said I wanted you to take a babysitting mission. " The Kazekage looked at her expectantly.
Her mouth was hanging open. For a minute, time seemed to freeze around them. Neither of them blinked. One in waiting, the other one in disbelieve.
She finally gathered her bearing and closed her mouth—she really was thankful for the ANBU mask, she really did look stupid with her mouth opened, and ANBU didn't look stupid.
"Pardon me Kazekage-sama. What kind of babysitting will it be that it will take an ANBU to finish it? Can't a normal genin do it ? " she gritted through her teeth. She really wanted to blurt out 'What the heck ? I'm a freaking ANBU and you gave me a freaking babysitting mission ? That was for genin. G-E-N-I-N, old man ! Are you already senile that you can't give missions properly to your ninja ? ' But according to protocol she couldn't object directly in front of the Kazekage and she obviously couldn't swear loudly especially if the swearing was directed at the Kazekage, so she watered down the sentence until it was quite acceptable.
Although it seemed like the Kazekage barely found this acceptable—if the slight frown was indicating anything.
" I didn't want you to question my judgement before I gave you any details of this mission, understand ? " the Kazekage reprimanded her with an icy tone.
Yuka felt the tension within the room increased. She gave him a curt nod stiffly.
" Good. Now, as for your questions earlier. The mission was A-ranked—it can change into an S-ranked too depending on the situation. So obviously genins can't do it. " He explained.
He gave the mission paper that he grabbed earlier and put it down on the table for me to see.
" This is the legal mission paper that the council had agreed to sign. " He said, " You will take care of Gaara for 1 month starting from today. You will be guarding the civilian and anyone else from 'him'. If he ever hurt anyone, you're permitted to use any method necessary to restrain him. I want you to take this mission. " He stated—no ordered. His tone had left no argument.
'Gaara, the Shukaku jinchuriki, the famous demon brat, no wonder this's an A-ranked mission. I'm curious though, why didn't he ask another ANBU to do this one.' She thought mentally.
"Yes, Kazekage-sama. I didn't see any trouble with this mission although usually the more experienced ANBUs were the ones that dealt with mission like this. Is there any reason to ask me specifically to do this ? " She drawled monotonely.
"Yes. You are the only one in the ANBU who didn't really shun him away. Even if you never interacted with him you never called him a demon either. You are the only one capable enough to defend yourself if he went berserk and the only one who could tolerate him too. Even after that, you are the only one in ANBU who still show some emotions from time-to-time. Most of the ANBU was emotionless—a perfect soldier. Although usually you were an anomaly for an ANBU, it seemed like we were fortunate to have you in our ranks. " the Kazekage told his reasons explicitly.
" It is up to you on how to finish this mission as long as the damage was minimal and Gaara stay alive. Do you understand ? " The Fourth Kazekage asked.
"Yes, Kazekage-sama. I understand. " She said bowing low.
" Good. Dismissed. " He said.
Yuka immediately shunshin away from the stuffy Kazekage office.
A/N : Hello, this is my first attempt at Gaara fanfic. Please Review !
