Hi people, here is the second chapter. FYI I made a few corrections to the note before chapter 1 so if you read that and it looks different, its supposed to be that way. I also changed the title.

Ch. 2 Stalker Ninja

Sunlight awoke Saylin early the next morning. She lazily rolled out of bed and stretched. After noticing that it was 9:30, her expression turned from sleep to shock, realizing that she had fifteen minutes to get to the sand village ninja academy. She flew to her dresser, opened it, and whisked out her tight gray t-shirt, black cargos shorts which cut off below her knee caps, long navy socks which went up to her knee caps, and her undergarments. Saylin threw the bundle of clothes into the bathroom and took a quick shower. After three minutes, of wild movement and hurried cleaning, Saylin bust out of the shower, slamming the water off. Stumbling over to the sink, she dried herself off with the towel, scrubbing herself with much more force than was necessary. Flinging the towel aside, she attacked her clothes, pulling them this way and that, trying to get them on the right way.

Sliding into the kitchen, (on her socks) wet hair sticking out of her head like spikes, Saylin snagged a rice ball from her refrigerator and a glace of tap water for breakfast while vigorously pulling a brush through her messy and tangled hair. Once she was satisfied with the way she looked, Saylin pulled it back with her headband that was conveniently waiting for her on the table. After cramming down the last bit of her rice ball down her throat and swallowing the last of her water, she tugged on her back combat boots and tossed her green-bagged ninja gear over her shoulder. She then blew the door open and rocketed out of her house. Kicking the door shut behind her, she took off down the road at a running pace, a tornado of chaos. She was half way to the academy when someone called,

"Say, wait up!"

Saylin stopped short, and turned around to see a few of the girly ninja from the academy running up to her.

"Hi." Saylin replied shortly, reluctant to talk to them. "Where the heck did the nickname 'Say' come from?" She asked herself insanely.

"Hey, Say." Shouted the nearest one, catching up with Saylin and slowing down to walk next to her.

"Uh, can I help you?" asked Saylin quickly, "What do they want?" she thought suspiciously.

"We need to talk to you." Another one with long brown hair ordered.

"What about?" Saylin trotted briskly in the direction of the academy, trying get the conversation over with as little blood shed as possible.

"It involves your social life." The first one replied, patting Saylin on the back with pity, shaking her head sadly.

"What does my social life have to do with anything?" Snapped Saylin, annoyed and violated on the topic.

"Everything. You don't have any friends, and you always hide behind that hair of yours. You're constantly afraid and shy, like a little mouse." Explained the brunette, "So we will make you our friend, under one condition."

"And that is?" asked Saylin curtly, inwardly feeling no need to have odd friends like these.

"Stop hanging around that demon boy, Gaara!" Hissed another girl with a blond hair, a disgusted look on her face.

"Why? Gaara is my friend! You don't know anything about my social life. What gave you the nerve to ask me to do something like that?" Shouted Saylin furiously, her voice escalating to the point of screaming.

"Because he is a demon! He could hurt you, he probably already planning to turn you into a demon or something. We want you to be our friend, but he is so scary. Please, do us all a favor and just leave him alone! You could be the most popular girl in class!" Their leader pleaded, putting her arm on Saylin's shoulder.

"You people have sick minds!" Saylin growled, pushing the other girl's arm off her, "Gaara wouldn't hurt me, and wouldn't hurt you either, if you just took a second to realize what he has been through. Besides, I've known Gaara longer than you, and he is a lot nicer than you are." She snarled, almost jogging away from them.

"Say, that's what we are telling you! Gaara isn't your friend, he's a demon! If you are caught hanging around the likes of him… it could affect your whole life- everyone would think you are like him." The brunette cried between pants, coming up behind Saylin.

"Stop calling me 'Say' and leave me alone. I don't want to be your pretend friend if it means have to loose my best friend to do so." Retorted Saylin, pulling away from them. To ensure her safety, she gave them an icy stare; one filled with hatred and distain, similar to the one Gaara usually gives people. This time, the girls didn't bother trying to catch up to her, and stood there stunned that Saylin would reject their generous offer.

"We are just telling you for your own good! You'll get killed for being his friend!" They shouted, just before they disappeared from Saylin's view.

"Idiots!" Hissed Saylin once they were out of earshot. "mindless, prejudice, nasty little-"

"Hello Saylin." Interrupted a soft voice off to her right.

"Ack!" Cried Saylin, startled. She shrieked and spun around, facing the direction of the voice, nearly breaking both ankles in the wild motion. "Gaara?" She asked warily. To answer her question, Gaara appeared from behind a billowing cloud of sand.

"You look troubled." He stated dully, seeing the murderous, alarmed look on her face.

"I had a run in with some nasty people." Saylin stated truthfully.

"Who are they? Want me to kill them for you?" Gaara asked in a normal tone, as if this were a rational solution to the problem. At his command, the sand at his feet began to shift.

"Umm… not really, thanks anyways." Saylin muttered sheepishly.

"Ok." He shrugged, the sand stopped moving, and Gaara turned to eye some houses nearby.

The two didn't talk until they reached the academy. "So, what do you think we are going to learn today?" She asked, turning around to see the popular girls glaring at her maliciously. Saylin walked into the room and sat down next to Gaara, with an inside, subconscious smirk. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could feel the blonde ninja turning purple with rage.

"Multiple transformation jutsu." He replied knowledgably, slouching in his seat.

As the teacher stood up and began to talk, Saylin felt someone to her right poke her on the arm. Before she could respond to it, a slip of paper was pushed into her hand. When the teacher wasn't looking, Saylin opened and read it. In scribbled, teacher-resistant handwriting, it read:

Say,

We weren't lying about earlier. If you want to hang out with demon boy, go right ahead. We won't try to stop you and we can guarantee that no one else will either. We are just saying that it is better to ditch him and find yourself some new friends. Not everyone will give you the chance we will. The offer we gave you is still up, even though you hate us. There is room for you in our group once you realize what mistake you have made with that creep.

-Ki

Saylin angelically looked around for Ki, her eyes urgently scanning the room. Ki, who Saylin found watching her, nodded with a small smile upon eye contact. Her eyes danced with glee as she saw Saylin smiling back. Unfortunately for Ki, anyone who knew Saylin would know that she was smiling evilly, not happily. Staring the ninja in the eyes, Saylin crinkled the paper up and tossed it into the garbage can. Ki's copper eyes burned with hatred. She mouthed, "You demon! You are just like him!"

Saylin only grinned wider and mouthed back, "You are the only demon here."

After that silent conversation and the violent exchange of glares, news quickly spread to all the other ninja in the classroom about what happened. They gave Saylin deadly glances throughout class, and whispered about her when she wasn't looking. Saylin pretended to ignore them, but felt slightly paranoid inside. The entire class was putting her on edge. Even when the students were ordered to practice the jutsu, she could hear her name mentioned twice. Gaara noticed Saylin's uneasiness and asked her, "Are those girls bothering you?" Gaara nodded in Ki's direction.

"N-" Saylin cut off as she transformed into their teacher, their assignment for the day. "No. They just got on my nerves, that's all. They won't try to annoy me again." "I hope." She thought wishfully.

"Excellent Saylin, you are a role model for the class." Their teacher exclaimed proudly as he checked her transformation, beaming at her as if she was a great hero. But when the teacher turned to Gaara, he frowned as if he were having the worst day of his life. "You lack every skill needed to perform this jutsu! You are a failure!" He shouted.

Gaara just stared at him with contempt in his eyes. Saylin's eyebrows wrinkled, and she glared at the teacher with both sadness and anger. She felt her face turn hot and tears welled up in her eyes. "Gaara didn't do anything wrong! His transformation is the same as mine!" she thought, feeling a huge lump form in her throat, "I can't believe he has to put up with this!"

She opened her mouth to tell the teacher to stop, but Gaara suddenly stared at her, "Do not interfere." he seemed to say with his eyes.

Saylin sighed and closed her mouth. "It isn't fair! He doesn't deserve to be treated this way!"She turned away from him and the shouting figure in front of him. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Ki and her friends smiling at the teacher as he yelled pointlessly at Garra.

"Change back everyone!" He ordered after he was finished. With a soft 'poof'the class returned back into themselves. Saylin couldn't look at Gaara for a few minutes, feeling immense guilt for his getting yelled at.

"I'm sorry." Saylin whispered, a light shade of pink touching her cheeks.

"Why? You didn't do anything wrong." He replied, confused.

"It's just… I hate it when he does that, it makes me want to scream at him, why won't you let me?" She hissed, shooting her teacher a resentful glance.

"Because you don't have a demon in you and I don't want you to get in trouble. I don't care about what he says." He grumbled, "Now, about before," he said, changing the subject back to their previous conversation, "Are you sure you don't want me to kill them?"

"No Gaara, I'm fine." Saylin replied as the brunette ninja stared at her incredulously. She, apparently, had just gotten the news of Saylin's decline to their request. Gaara turned to face the brunette and stared emotionlessly into her eyes. She squeaked and turned away, shaking with fear. Gaara sighed, and a small smile played its way across his lips.

After another two hours filled with lectures, silent messages, and more glances and stares, the teacher finally shouted, "Remember, you don't have class tomorrow. You all are dismissed!"

All the students gratefully fled the classroom, almost running.