Okay, right where this SHOULD be. Again, I am so incredibly sorry about the confusion. Now, if only I had some sort of time machine, I could go back and fix this... Any one of you out there got a time machine?

Chapter 2 New Rivals

As it turned out, I was late for the show. Konohamaru, a little brunette boy, had already bumped into one of the Suna siblings, Kankuro. Kankuro's elder sister, Temari, the blonde girl, stood next to him, neither stopping nor helping him. The scene was very reminiscent of the episode I saw this little incident, number twenty I believe. I decided not to interfere, opting for a spectator seat around the corner, behind two of the Suna siblings.

"Hm. I hate short people." I heard the one holding Konohamaru speak. It was Kankuro, a black clad ninja who I knew to be a couple years older than Naruto, the blond I could see too well. Why wear orange if you're a ninja? I thought the point of a ninja was to be stealthy. Anyway, I turned my attention back to Kankuro and Konohamaru. "It makes me want to break them."

Naruto yelled out in rage. As Naruto charged towards him, Kankuro dropped his hand and made strange movements with his fingers. Another cry from Naruto dragged my attention towards him. He had slipped. It was then that the movements Kankuro made actually made sense. I remembered it from the episode and only now did it actually make sense. I had to hold down the urge to smack my forehead. I mentally berated myself for a few good seconds before turning again towards the scene.

I watched as Kankuro reared back his fist, only to drop Konohamaru as a rock hit his arm. How strange, I was able to see the rock as if it had been slowed down. More changes in my body and reactions. I followed everyone's line of vision to behold Sasuke. It was difficult to see him, considering I was quite a distance away and Sasuke was in a tree. Two high pitched squeals caused me to wince. Sasuke's 'cool-ness' had caused the little girl, Moegi if I remembered correctly, and Sakura to squeal. It was easy to recognize Sakura's pink hair, though seeing it in real-life was disconcerting.

As it turned out, Sasuke's dark hair did flip up in the back like a rooster's. The sight caused me to snicker. I had never really been a fan of Sasuke. Well, maybe once upon a time, but that was before I watched the Chuunin exams arc. I was tempted to come and smack Sakura's large forehead for squealing over such a cheesy display of strength. As I speculated on this subject, the conversation carried on until a new person arrived.

"Kankuro." I heard a calm voice say that wasn't Sasuke. "Stop it." The air seemed to freeze as the entire group's attention, including mine, was drawn towards another figure. This one was hanging upside down.

"G-Gaara," Kankuro stuttered, "They started it-"

Gaara interrupted Kankuro to reprimand him, calling him a 'disgrace to our village', in his exact words.

"I-I was completely at fault." Kankuro adjusted his words to satisfy his brother. Sometimes it was really hard to believe Gaara was the youngest of the three. Kankuro continued stuttering out his apologies to Gaara. I surveyed the situation. The air seemed to still when Gaara gave Kankuro a look that silenced him. For my view point, I wasn't able to see the look on Kankuro's face, considering Gaara had appeared on the side opposite of me.

Gaara apologized to Sasuke for his brother. Sand quickly gathered around him and somehow transported him right next to Kankuro. I wanted to learn how to do that. Then Sakura demanded to see if they were allowed to be here in Konoha and what their purpose was. Temari flipped up what I assumed to be her identification and explained they were there for the upcoming Chuunin exams.

"Let's go." Gaara's voice was loud and clear as he turned towards my direction. I silently cursed. I didn't really have anywhere to escape to and I was too curious to see their reaction towards me. While I was debating what to do, the Suna siblings where still making their way in my direction. "Stop hiding, I already know you're there." The 'cat' was out of the bag then.

I sighed noisily. "Well, they did always say curiosity killed the cat." I turned from my little corner was around to see Gaara staring at me. "I'm sorry for spying and eavesdropping, I suppose." I began, "I just happened to hear a bunch of noise and got curious." Under my breath I added, "It's not like you three were very subtle anyway."

Gaara didn't respond, just continued walking. Before turning though, he just gave me a look of dismissal.

"Oh! Ah, also. You, Kankuro, was it?" I called out to the first of the brothers I had seen.

"What is it, nosy brat?" Kankuro turned to look at me with a cross look on his face. Only Temari of the remaining two turned to find out what was going on.

"Well, now that you've brought it up, I'm hardly a brat. I would bet money that if you're older than me, it's not by much." I protested, just a little bit irritated. "Anyway, what I was going to ask was if you did something to trip the blond kid. Right before he fell back, you did something with your hand."

"And if I did?" His voice betrayed his suspicion.

"Well, I'm not going try and get revenge or anything, I don't even really know Blondie over there. I just wanted to know if my hunch was right." That and I felt like talking to him. I was supposed to get out of that cursed stage during high school, but since some stupid wolf decided to take seven years off my life and send me to one of my favorite shows and to live in it, I feel kind of justified at my actions, though slightly disgusted.

Kankuro stared at me for a moment, I would guess trying to figure out if I was lying or not. "Yeah, I did. Now if that's all, I gotta go." I nodded.

"Tsubame." I whirled around to see Sho standing behind me, on the wooden fence. "Sensei wants to see us in our usual training field in an hour." One thing I had always liked about Sho's design. He was short and to the point, without beating around the bush.

"Uh, when'd you get there?" He also nearly gave me a heart-attack.

"Just a minute ago, while you were speaking to the one in black." Sho paused for a moment. "Sorry for surprising you."

As it turned out, Gaara had not realized Sho's presence until he spoke. Thus, Sho gained Gaara's interest. As we were speaking, Gaara approached us.

"Who are you?" Gaara demanded quietly. His eyes were intently on Sho, which made me feel a little left out. Gaara just sees me and keeps walking, but when Sho pops up, Gaara wants to know his name. Maybe Gaara was able to sense the five-tailed wolf? Then again, Gaara had always ignored Naruto even though Naruto held the nine-tailed fox inside of him.

"Tell me yours and you shall know." Sho queried back. Something that struck me interesting about this conversation was how it was almost like Neji Hyuuga's and Sasuke's first conversation.

"Gaara of the Sand. And now yours?" Something I just noticed then was how Gaara was actually more patient with those he considered to be 'equals' than with other people. Either that or Gaara didn't want to get into an argument over who introduces the other first.

"Urufugawa Sho."

Gaara seemed to be satisfied with his answer as he turned and for the third time, walked away. The air stirred as he left, like it knew that Gaara was a dangerous person. Slowly I breathed out, turned to look at Sho, and found Sho was no longer there.

"Sheesh, doesn't anyone remember how to say good-bye anymore?"