Chapter 3: Warm Welcomings

Amaya's heart raced. She couldn't believe that she was this close to Kiba. Never in her wildest dreams could she believe that she could be standing just a few feet away.

"Well! What are we waiting for!?" Naruto asked impatiently, Sakura glared at him and smacked him upside the head.

"Don't you think we should introduce ourselves first?" she asked him angrily.

"Huh?" Naruto said, scratching his head. "I never thought of that... Anyway! My name is..."

"Naruto," Amaya cut in. "And your Sakura, Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru." She said as she pointed to each person.

"Sorry everyone! Amaya already knows your names," Tsunade told them.

"Well that's just a little creepy." Kiba said half amused. Amaya looked down at the floor and blushed.

"Well! Now that we all know each other, let's get going!!" Naruto said impatiently again. Every one of the teens started to walk out the door, including Amaya but before she could leave, Tsunade stopped Amaya. She handed her a small bag filled with money.

"This should be enough to have fun for the night. Use it wisely. Sakura will show you where you'll be staying. We'll send a letter to the hidden sand village tonight," she said, before walking back to her desk. "Have fun Amaya!"

Amaya nodded at her before running to catch up with the rest of the group.

Once Amaya was out of the room, Kakashi turned to Tsunade and said, "Do you think she's one of the two that can help us?" Tsunade turned away.

"I really hope so," she whispered

"Gaara!" screamed Ami. She turned down yet another hallway, completely lost. Another turn and she spotted some stairs. Finally! She climbed up them, two at a time. At the top, she found a door, and through the door she found herself on the roof. At first she didn't see anyone. Everything seemed to be under a shadow, like there was something blocking out the sun. And looking up she saw what it was, sand. Lots of it, and over most of Suna. At once Ami knew what was happened and what was yet to come. She searched the sky for Gaara and quickly found him surrounded by his absolute defense sand.

"Gaara!" she shouted as loud as she could. "Be careful! He put some clay bombs in your sand! Don't surround yourself with it!!"

At first Ami was worried that Gaara couldn't hear her through the sand. Then she was worried that he wouldn't listen to her. She bit her lip, wondering what was happing on the other side. Finally the sand began to move, but was it because Gaara was hit? If it was then the sand would be moving away from Suna, but it was instead reforming to look like an arm of Shukaku. When it moved out of the way Ami was able to see Deidara and Gaara. Gaara was still silent but he was no longer surrounded by sand, meaning he had indeed listened to her. Deidara on the other hand was wondering about their new arrival.

"Could she be...?" he wondered. "Yeah, she must be... how else would she know about my bombs? Perfect! I can get her and the Ichibi at the same time! Through, it might be hard, yeah."

The Akatsuki member was so busy looking at Ami, that she was barely able to dodge Gaara's sand attack. With only one arm and low on chakra and clay, he had to think of something fast. His only hope was to lead Gaara into a different trap. One that hopefully, that girl didn't know about.

"Yes!" Ami said happily. Gaara's next sand attack had just hit Deidara squarely in the chest. But next thing they knew, his body puffed out of existence. A clone?!

"Hey, little girl," said a voice behind Ami. She spun around to see the blonde Akatsuki member standing there, twirling a Kunia between his fingers. "Are you one of the chosen?"

"AMI!!"

Gaara's voice woke Ami up from her dumbfound state. However she didn't know what to do. "G-get away..." she mumbled walking to the edge of the roof. She was trapped.

"Now why would I want to do that, yeah?" He paused. "You know, if you come quietly, I won't hurt anyone else."

"Your still gonna try and take Gaara!" Ami shot back at him. Then, because she always wanted to say it to him, she added, "You girly looking freak!"

Deidara suddenly got really angry. "How dare you. You're lucky that they want you alive, else I'd kill you, yeah!" he said, throwing the Kunai at her. Of Course she wouldn't have even been able to dodge the Kunai if she had tried. Luckily she didn't have to. A wall of sand appeared between her and Deidara, saving her.

"Are you ok?"

Ami again looked behind her. This time it was Gaara, a few feet behind her and a little higher on his sand. Ami went to nod and say thank you but something above caught her eye: a falling clay bomb.

"GAARA!! BEHIND YOU!"

Ami barely knew what happened. The last thing she saw was Gaara turning around, seeing the bomb, turning back, then-

BANG!!!

Ami couldn't see anything but black. Was she dead? Then she heard sand crumbling above her and felt it falling on her shoulders. The sand... did it protect me? Looking above her she expected to see Gaara but he wasn't there. She looked widely around but he was no where to be seen.

"G-Gaara?"

"Oh, isn't that so cute," said Deidara, appearing above her. "Did you see that? He made sure his sand surrounded you first, yeah. He was so busy with that he didn't have time for himself."

"Where is he you bastard!?" Ami snapped angrily.

"Language! Oh... he's up here with me." Deidara moved his bird slightly, letting Ami see Gaara wrapped up in the birds tail.

"Give him back!"

"Nah! We still need that demon inside of him. Maybe after, yeah!"

"He'll be dead after that!"

"Oh, you're a smart one. You must be the chosen. Well," he eyed the line of guards that had come up to the roof. "I'd take you as well, but in my currant state it'd be too much work. Bye, bye little girl!"

Deidara began to fly away and the guards began to swarm around her. Some were shouting orders, some were throing Kunai's or attacking Deidara with jutsus, which he all dodged, and a couple were talking to Ami. She wasn't paying attention of course. She was too busy thinking that even through she knew Gaara was originally gonna get kidnapped... this time it was her fault.

By now, the five teens and dog had made it to the Ramen shop for something to eat. Naruto had already devoured his first bowl of Ramen, and waiting for the next one. Amaya sat in between Hinata and Sakura, watching Naruto gulp down his second bowl that had just been placed in front of him. She looked down at her own bowl, which had remained untouched from the time she got it. Sakura noticed Amaya sadly starring at her food.

"What's wrong?" she asked Amaya after swallowing down the food in her mouth. Hinata, Naruto, and Kiba looked over at Amaya.

"I'm just not very hungry." she said pushing away her bowl.

"I wouldn't blame you!" Kiba told her. "The way Naruto eats is enough to spoil anyone's appetite!"

Amaya giggled at the joke, while Naruto silently cursed at Kiba.

"Aw, bite me Kiba. At least I don't carry around a mutt every where I go!"

Akamaru popped his head up off the floor at the word "mutt" and growled and bared his teeth at Naruto. Amaya turned to the offended dog and smiled.

"Don't worry Akamaru! He's just jealous because he could never have that special bond you and Kiba have!"

Akamaru stopped growling and barked happily at Amaya. He then got up and darted over to Amaya's seat and started to paw and whine at her to pet him. Amaya turned all the way around as Akamaru stood up on his hind legs and placed his front paws on Amaya's shoulders, and started to lick her face.

"Aw! He's so cute!" she said smiling and giggling, as she stroked the top on the dog's head. Sakura looked over at Kiba who sat smiling in Amaya's direction.

"I bet someone told him to do it," she said smirking at Kiba. He blushed and turned away.

"I didn't tell him anything!" he mumbled.

"Whatever!" Sakura said smiling at Hinata, who also thought the same as her. Sakura then turned to Naruto who was now gulping down his third bowl.

"Hurry up Naruto!" she yelled at him.

"Hold on!" He said before gulping down the last bit of ramen. "All done!"

"Good, let's get out of here!" Sakura said as she got up out of her seat, and set down the money for her food. Hinata and Naruto followed and did the same. Amaya took out the small bag of money that Tsunade had given her, then took out some money and set it down on the counter. Kiba watched her then put his money down next to hers.

"You know, you didn't need to stick up for the over sized puppy." Kiba said as him and Amaya walked out of the shop, with Akamaru behind them. "Besides, it would have been funny to watch Naruto run screaming like a baby!"

"True!" Amaya agreed with him, giggling. "But then Akamaru would have that horrible taste of Naruto in his mouth if he bit him." Kiba smiled at her joke, but said nothing. Amaya and Kiba could feel their faces become warm with embarrassment as they walked along silently. Finally Kiba spoke.

"Thanks anyway," he said looking down at the ground.

"No problem," Amaya replied looking around at the city. Suddenly, the trio heard voices calling at them from up a head.

"COME ON YOU TWO!!" Sakura and Naruto yelled back at them. "You're slowing us down!" Amaya and Kiba blushed and hurried to catch up.

The rest of the day consisted of sight seeing and walking around the town. At dusk the group split up. The boys said good night and left for their rooms. Sakura and Hinata showed Amaya to an empty room. They too bid her good night and left her alone.

It took Amaya a while to fall asleep. So she counted the stars, hoping that Ami was alright and safe.