Chapter One: Hate at First Sight

The rain continued on at the pace it was before. A few, seemingly long minutes passed, as Sphinx carefully stared into one of the trees behind her. She turned around to face the hiding spot of her follower properly.

"Still following me, I see." She called out over the sound of rain, closely peering into the branches, and between the green leaves.

"Come on out!" She practically barked, only to have her calls answered by nothing more than the raindrops. She growled angrily. She hated being ignored, and now was going to flush out her little "shadow." She dropped her umbrella, and made the ninja hand seal for Dragon. Drops of rain became needles as they came close to the ground, only to turn and shoot up into the branches of the tree. To her surprise, the needles were stopped by a barrier of sand.

She was only able to let out a gasp of surprise and disbelief before her leg was grabbed by a stem of sand that roughly tore her from her feet.

Just as she hit the ground, a large tendril of sand constricted around her, making he unable to move her body to get away. She looked up when she heard footsteps come close to her. Her eyes landed on a boy, who appeared about 4 years younger than herself. His stern face was framed with dark red hair, while his bright sea foam green eyes were rimmed thickly with black insomnia.

"S-…SA-ba...ku no… Gaara…!" She was barely able to force passed her lips before being hoisted into the air by his sand. The silent Sand ninja remained silent and kept a fixed stare on her. She stopped, just before the she hit the branches of the high trees.

She unconsciously struggled to get herself free of the sand's uncomfortable grip. With every move, the sand continued to grip her harder and tighter. It grew harder for her to breathe and after a short while, pain began to enter her body.

Suddenly Sphinx heard a crack, and a bit of blood forced itself through her lips, as her body tensed, wanting to cough. She grew lightheaded and the sand loosened its grip around her, though she barely noticed.

It wasn't until she slammed into the ground, she noticed that she could breath, and began to cough onto the wet ground. She brought herself up onto her knees, as Gaara stepped in front of her and his sand retreated from the ground around her. She looked up to Gaara, meeting his cold eyes as she let out a low growl. She carefully watched his every move, as he took the cork for his gourd and shoved it into the gourd's opening. She stood.

"Why have you been following me?" She ordered him in an angered tone, and a huff, waiting for Gaara's answer.

"I was ordered to follow you." His voice was almost emotionless, but there was a slight tone of anger within his voice. She assumed that was normal for him.

"Who ordered you?"

"Yondaime Kazekage."

"I see… Why?"

"He didn't tell me… Do you think I'm here to kill you?"

"Naturally, one would assume that was true with one look at the evil and silent Sabaku no Gaara. I do know that if you were to assassinate me, you would have already done so."

"Come with me then."

"Oi…! Three things Shrimp! One; I don't take orders from anybody, especially you. Two; I have things I need to get done. Three; why would anyone from your country want to protect me? Most anyone who knows me wants me dead."

"I don't know. Personally, I would rather kill you myself."

"Oh really…?! I had no idea. After all you are the notorious Sabaku no Gaara." She said with sarcasm in her voice as she picked up her umbrella from the wet ground, shaking some of the water from it.

"You name?" Gaara demanded. As she put the umbrella onto a holster on her back she answered with frustration.

"Didn't give you a name huh? Feh…! Just call me Sphinx." She answered back before quickly turning and practically stomping off through the puddles. There was a long moment of silence between the two, aside from the random growls and mutterings from Sphinx.

"I assume you don't like me." Gaara stated as he walked closer to her.

"Wow, nothing gets passed you!" She said, once again with extreme sarcasm in her voice. She muttered something as she turned back around and continued walking. It wasn't long before the sun was set and the sky was dark.

After a while Gaara had begun asking where they were going. No matter how many times he asked, or how angry he sounded, Sphinx never said a word to him.

"Damn it, will you just tell me where we're going?" Gaara now snarled at her in pure anger as well as impatience.

"To the next village..." She finally answered, whispering purposely but he heard her anyways.

"Why?" Once again she grew dead silent and refused to answer his little questions. From behind her, she could feel Gaara's fury rise. She was amused and proud of herself, but wasn't at all prepared for his reaction.

She suddenly felt something pull her hair, making her fly back and hit a tree. When she opened her eyes, Gaara was right in front of her, pinning her against the tree by the front of her clothes.

"I'm getting tired of your attitude!"

"Heh heh, like you're any better."

"Shut up. Now you're going to tell me why we are stopping at the next village." Once again, Sphinx refused to give an answer. She growled at him, and then spat right in his face.

Immediately Gaara let her go to wipe his face as he growled in anger. Sphinx grabbed the bag she dropped and continued walking forward. A smug look on her face, proud of doing something that no one else would even dream of. She knew the only reason he didn't kill her was because he had to keep her alive. Even if he could kill her, she still would've done that, and still would've felt the same sense of pride and joy of doing so.