Thank You
Name: Airi
Age: 15 (19 Oct.)
Rank: Sand kunoichi – Chunin
Personality: Slightly nuts, protective, good listener, gives good advice, friendly, hesitant, patient, quiet, like a big sister to her cousin Matsuri.
Tools: Chakra threads, puppet: Farukon (Falcon), Katana and Senbon coated in paralysis poison
Role model: Kankuro
Fear: Losing Matsuri and Temari
Other: Perfectly Average person, no talent for genjutsu and earth natured chakra, specialty in information gathering and stealth.
The attack on Konoha was all history under light of the new treaty. We were all happy, safe, basically living our lives. Our ties with Konoha only became stronger after they helped rescue my cousin Matsuri. Now that Gaara has been made Kazekage, ties have become even stronger.
That's something that I didn't understand at all. What the heck happened during the attack on Konoha that caused such a change in Gaara? I had grown up like the rest of the village had, believing the same story and shunning him in the same manner. He was a monster, end of story.
Then he returned from the chunin exams and he didn't seem so malicious or blood-thirsty anymore. In fact he seemed to be making a conscientious effort to be more outgoing. We saw him in the streets and on the roof tops. He was placed in my friend's team and he worked rather well with everyone.
Then he made chunin and my crazy cousin Matsuri decided to be the brave nutcase she is and chose him as her sensei. Mum had a fit and my aunt had a fit and a half. I ended up following Matsuri to training every day, watching her progress. As I watched him train her I began to notice how much he'd changed.
He was a blood-thirsty, introverted raving lunatic and now he seemed sombre as if attempting to make up for years of being well, whatever he was. I can't even bring myself to call him monster anymore, seeing how much he's changed. Matsuri adores him. He was recommended and quickly rose to Jounin and, after a year of squabbling, the council named him Kage.
Now my teams been called. I settled myself against the wall and relaxed, because I was the first one as usual. I was also the only chunin on my team.
"Yes, he's been gone for almost 3 years, they're expecting him back in a month" a voice I recognised as Kankuro-sempai's said.
"I can't imagine that he's changed very much," a softer, deeper voice replied.
"Well, he still wears bright orange," sempai said with a laugh.
"He's been seen?" asked a voice that made me pray I wasn't caught sitting here.
"Yes, scouts saw him and the Sanin Jiraiya about a month ago in the mountain area. Apparently he's grown a bit and his face looks as if he's grown up," sempai explained.
A low chuckle sounded and the other voice, which I realized (with a start) belonged to the Kazekage, said, "I'm sure he's still as impulsive and loud, even if he has matured."
"Please, Gaara, you were born mature," Temari's voice said with a hint of humour.
"Hey, Airi! What's up?" Kenji screamed in my ear.
I winced and opened my eyes to stare at my idiotic, puppy eyed team mate. "Nothing Kenji. I'm sitting here and waiting to die."
"Hush, that's enough," Baki sensei said.
We fell silent and I heard Kankuro greet Gaara. I stood and stretched, yawning. Kankuro walked out of the door and blinked, smiled and greeted Baki sensei. They started talking about the old days until I cleared my throat loudly.
"Sempai, I'm sorry to disturb but we are going to be late," I stated.
Kankuro turned and smiled at me, "Oh, hey Airi. Sorry, couldn't help myself. How's your training going?"
I nodded and smiled, "It's going well, but I'm still not as good as you are though."
"Just keep practicing," he said. "You guys can go in now."
He left and we walked into the office. Temari and I had a glaring contest, which she won. She smirked at me and excused herself. I wasn't paying attention to what was being said. Instead I noted Matsuri sitting in the corner, assembling a rope dart and sharpening her kunai and shurikan. She smiled and waved at me and I smiled back.
When we were done, Gaara asked me to stay and help Matsuri. I nodded and sat with my cousin, noting the way the light danced in his hair as he left the room.
I shook my head. Wow where the hell did that come from? Just then, Matsuri giggled.
"What?" I asked.
"Do you like him?" she asked, starry eyed.
"Who?" I asked
"Gaara-sama; you know, my sensei the Kazekage," she explained rolling her eyes.
"Well, he's respectable and he's changed a lot since the failed attack on Konoha. He's a good ninja and he keeps you out of trouble so…" I trailed off as Matsuri shook her head.
"I know you really like him. Admit it, after knowing for sure that I was in no danger why did you keep coming to watch me train?" she asked slyly.
"How did you know -?"
"Gaara-sama said that he sensed you the very first time you came using his sand."
I was speechless for a moment. "Well, damn."
Matsuri laughed at me. As we worked I couldn't help but remember the way he smiled when Matsuri finally managed to master the rope dart. She recalled the way the muscles in his face twitched slightly before a small smile graced his lips. It was strange, even though cute, and it seemed as if he himself found the new gesture awkward.
After it was ascertained that Matsuri was not in harm's way with her new sensei, I was free to simply do my own thing, so why the hell was I still hanging around to watch her training? If I thought about it really hard (like I'm doing now) I can still remember that my focus was not on Matsuri's training but rather on Gaara and the way he trained her. I shook my head and Matsuri looked up curiously.
"Whatcha thinking about?" she asked.
"Gaara," I said with a shrug.
She laughed at me and I smiled. "Hey, no pervresing over my sensei!" she scolded playfully.
"That's not a word!" I replied with a laugh.
"Now it is!" she said as she checked her kunai.
I smiled at her. Gaara was a year older than me and Matsuri was 3 years younger than me but I was there when Matsuri chose him as her sensei. It was rather strange because he wasn't the one to volunteer information. This, of course, just more evidence of how he'd changed because none of the other Jounin could answer her. Then again, nobody would have guessed he was Suna's own genius. Nobody would've noticed because we were all too busy being judgemental.
When we were done, Matsuri and I cleaned up and left. I dropped her off at home before heading in the opposite direction to sleep.
The next day, I realized that I'd left my Senbon bag in the office. I raced back, hoping that I could grab it and go. Thankfully, Gaara still wasn't in yet so I grabbed my bag and got out. As I left the office I couldn't help but overhear something from one of the other rooms.
"Yes, but he seemed to be more stubborn. It'll be difficult to control him should we give him more leeway."
"I understand but he is doing exceptionally well as the Kage," said Baki sensei.
"The people respect him, even those who know what he is. The children all look up to him as the Kage -" That was Kankuro sempai.
"Which is all the more reason why some who know the truth still do not trust him," the first voice, (that I recognised as my uncle's) said.
"Yūra! Of all people you should see best the changes in Gaara. Especially since he trains one of your nieces," reprimanded Baki sensei.
I clenched m fist. The council was using him. They made him Kage to control him. I bet Gaara-sama already knew about it. I wanted to hit my uncle for still implying that Gaara was a monster. Instead I knocked on the door.
After a moment of silence, "Come in."
I opened the door and smiled brightly. "Sorry to disturb you all. I was wondering if Kankuro-sempai had some time to help me train."
Kankuro smiled at me, "Sure, squirt, why not?"
"We'll continue some other time then," Baki sensei said.
"Unless Matsuri becomes a 'monster' like her sensei," I muttered sarcastically.
My uncle stared at me; he was the closest and so actually heard me. I walked out with Kankuro and we arrived at the training grounds. As we approached, the sand shifted and a wall of it appeared in front of us.
"Matsuri work on your aim! Concentrate!" Gaara said from somewhere on our left.
"She's doing pretty well," Temari said as the wall came down.
Matsuri squealed and raced over, tackling me. We laughed and I pushed her off, dusting myself off as I stood. Temari glared at me and I simply smiled back. I was too tired to be mad at her, even if she did scare me to hell when she glared. I swallowed hard as she began to tell me off.
"She lost concentration as she saw you coming. You shouldn't need to still check up on her you're not her nanny. Besides, it's obvious that if Gaara hasn't killed her yet she's not going to."
I sighed sadly. I really didn't want to argue and besides she always won. Last night I realized there were a lot of reasons why I was terrified of Temari. I also realized that the main one was that she hated me because I used to be like everyone else, i.e. 'Gaara the monster' mentality. My main reason for being scared, I realized irritably, was because she made me feel as if I was nowhere near being good enough for Gaara. If he was a 10 then I was -500.
"Cut it out, Temari," Gaara said quietly.
"Yeah, give her a break," Kankuro said.
Temari huffed and gestured to Gaara as she pulled a frowning Matsuri off of the ground. I don't think anyone realizes just how awesome my Sempai is, heck even I forget it. But just watching be irritated on my behalf makes me feel happy. He ruffled my hair and we began to train. He always treated me like I was 5 rather than 15.
After a day of work I was heading off the grounds having stayed back to practice my Earth style jutsu. I can't train to my full potential with people around, it distracts me.
"You need a bit of work but you're actually better than Baki said," a low voice said from behind me.
I instinctively threw 3 senbon while jumping backwards. I got into a fighting stance and, when I finally noticed that I was facing a wall of sand, I stood straight and lowered my head. "My apologies, Kazekage sama, you startled me."
Gaara moved the sand shield so that half his face was showing, "It shows that you are always on your guard. That's a good thing for a shinobi."
I blushed lightly at the praise, "Thank you."
He smiled and, without another word, we began training. I knew he was going easy on me but I couldn't help but enjoy myself. Besides, if he were going all out, he could crush me in a split second. I jumped to dodge a bullet of sand but another tendril caught me in mid-air and flung me downwards, where Gaara caught me. Not with his sand but rather I fell into his arms. I blinked a couple of times before staring at him. He smiled lightly at me.
"I think that that's enough training for today," he said.
I nodded and he put me down. "Um, just out of curiosity, what nature are you?"
"Earth and Wind natured," he replied as we walked.
"Oh, but I guess with the whole sand thing you don't really need to -," I broke off.
He smiled again and nodded. "It's easier."
He sure was smiling a lot today. As he walked me home, we talked about Suna and we laughed at some of Matsuri's mess-ups. Or rather I laughed and he smiled and shook his head. We stopped outside my home and I thanked him and turned to walk up the steps. As I reached the door, soft, cool fingers wrapped around my wrist and I felt something warm press against my forehead. I looked up and saw Gaara smile at me before walking away.
I walked in in a bit of a daze. Ignoring my uncle and his scolding tone, I put a hand to my forehead and smiled. Wait until Matsuri found out, she'd freak out.
"Are you listening to me?" Uncle Yūra asked.
"Um, no," I said quietly.
My mother simply looked helpless as I made my way to my room ignoring uncle Yūra's scolding. The next day, there seemed to be no change in me. The only thing that would've made it noticeable, if people bothered to look, was that I was always seemed to be in the Kage's office more often than before.
Of course, sempai explained everything that happened in the chunin exams to me and, during a misinformed mission, Gaara saved my uncle and uncle Yūra never made another noise about my relationship with the Kage again.
There was only one problem…
"You're DATING my SENSEI!"
Hey you can't blame everyone.
However there was an upside.
Temari approached me with a scowl when she found out but then she hugged me, "Thank you."
Gaara smiled and nodded as if he were also thanking me. I hugged back, thankful that we were on better terms but that didn't mean that I wasn't still terrified of her.
"Wait to get it on, Gaara," Sempai whispered a little too loudly.
A crash later he flew through 4 walls and Temari put her fan back where it belonged. Dang I didn't envy the poor sap that had to put up with her for the rest of their life. Poor Shikamaru…
Which reminds me, I really have to Thank Naruto for changing our Gaara. He really is one of a kind, pain in the backside. For some reason though, Gaara didn't seem very comfortable with me putting it that way…
_END_