A/N: asdlfkjasdl;fjowirqhreflnxc,vhnksat. Randomness. That's what happens when you're bored… or on crack….
Disclaimer: click my heels together three times and say 'I own Naruto'. Whoops! Wrong show…
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah." Kankuro said. "I'll make sure not to hurt you."
Takira said nothing. She had a focused glint in her eye that Gaara had never seen before. Her muscles were tensed and the skirt she normally wore was off. Ninjas normally had had kunai packages strapped their thighs, but Takari had two small kunai packages in her pockets.
"I'll let you make the first move." She said, watching him warily.
Kankuro nodded. He unstrapped Crow and preformed quick hand seals, whispering the jutsu name. Crow tackled Takira and before she could make a hand sign, she was trapped in his stomach. Gaara, who was watching from the rooftop like a spectator at a football game with Temari, Shikamaru, and Sauske, smirked. No one had been able to get out of his stomach trap yet, not even that huge bomb he swallowed last year to avoid an assassination on the Kazekage's life.
Kankuro chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll let you out." He chuckled and picked Crow up…
"Aren't you a little old to be playing with dolls?" Takira's cold voice could be heard. She was behind him!
Kankuro fell over her leg, which was stuck out in front of him from the blunt end of a kunai. He was too big to fall completely fall into the puppet, so he wiggled around like a bug on his back. Takira put the kunai to his neck.
"Dead." She said clearly.
"Temari." Gaara muttered to his sister.
Temari nodded and jumped down confidently. She stayed tense, after watching her brother be picked off so quickly. She sent a fierce blast of wind at Takira, who had to move quickly to avoid it. Takira glanced at the sky and her eyes narrowed.
"It will be noon soon."
Temari looked up as well. "Yeah, so?" She stared at the other woman.
Takira snapped back to attention. "You shouldn't let your guard down. I gave you a perfect opportunity to attack."
She took a stance. Gaara was reminded of the stance Shikamaru used when using his shadow technique. He glanced at Shikamaru. He was tense and watching, more interested now than he had been in the Chunin exams. The backyard seemed to quiver and before anyone knew it, Temari had a shadow at each of her legs, arms, neck, and abdomen.
Gaara frowned. He followed the shadow's path with his eyes. The one restraining her right arm was from a dry desert bush. A different cactus's held each of her legs. Crow's was the one on her left arm. Takira was using her own body as the shadow on Temari's abdomen. The one at her neck…
"She's using Temari's own shadow to hold her neck. Amazing." Muttered Shikamaru.
"You could be dead four different ways right now." Takira said, almost disinterested. The shadows retracted with a wave of her hand. She jogged over to where she had draped her skirt across a tanning chair that Temari had bought a few years ago. She tied it around her waist and went over to Temari, sticking out a hand. "You did well. I haven't actually gotten hit in awhile. Next time I have a feeling we'll be more evenly matched."
"Um… yeah." Temari said, shaking the hand.
"Hey Takira!" Taro was waving from the sanded (haha) fence. "Come on! I need your help!"
Takira nodded. "Here I come. Of course, unless the Kazekage wants me to do anything else?" She looked slyly at Gaara.
Gaara gave a slight flick of the hand, meaning 'I don't give a fuck what you do', while Shikamaru slid down the roof and ran to Teamri, apparently in adamant discussion about the fight. Takira and Taro headed off. Sauske, though he didn't know Gaara was watching him, followed them with his eyes until he couldn't see them, then started off in their direction. After he was a few buildings away, Gaara spoke.
"Kankuro."
His brother took the hint, nodded and started to track the Uchiha on the ground, using to his advantage every shadow on the way, though he needn't have. Sauske had declined in his ninja abilities since his depression, and though he was still a great Jounin, Kankuro was a specialist.
Takira followed Taro to what she assumed was his home. She frowned. It looked like the house had thrown up on the front lawn. All his furniture was sitting in messy rows.
"What's going on?" She asked, confused.
"Suna's rainy season's coming. Help me move this stuff to the safe cave that I'm renting." Taro said, picking up a cardboard bow.
Takira took another box and piled it on his, then took two boxes herself. There were three gates, north, east, and west. The Southern border was made up of the cliffs that the city had slowly adapted to. Houses (though hardly any stores) were built out there for those who preferred the quieter simpler life. Takira had heard in her travels that caves of stone had been found years before and were rather large, ringing the city at the crest and base of the precipices. Taro's house was on the southern limits of the city, therefore rather close to the caves. As they walked, Takira noticed that a few others were heading the same way they were, burdened similarly.
"So why are we moving your stuff to the caves?" she said, shifting the weight in her arms. She had to admit, her upper body strength wasn't that good when she was not on an adrenaline or chakra high.
Taro grunted. "Every year we have one or two awful storms that last for days. All of our houses are made of sand, so it basically melts. Well, those of us with sand homes found out a year after we found the caves that the cliffs from the rain protected them. Everyone except the Kazekage's family and a few of the higher nobles have to move out to the caves for protection. The smaller caves are used to hide our stuff in, if you can afford it, which I can" he smirked confidently.
"So you want me to help you bring all your stuff to a cave?" Takira used the tone she knew made Taro nervous.
"Um… well…. Please?" he asked weakly.
Takira grinned. "You're lucky I have nothing better to do and you're really lucky that if I wasn't hanging out with you I would be hanging our with Mr. Serious."
Taro grinned back. "You are probably the only person who has insulted the Kazkage and lived."
"Not without good reason, I'm sure." Takira said, smiling. "I don't think he was happy when I came home last night. Good thing he didn't see my leg." She shifted the weight of the boxes again to show him the bandage on her hand.
"Eh… sorry about that."
"It's fine. I should've seen it coming." Takira said. She smiled slyly. "So, you got a girlfriend yet?"
Taro blushed. "I… uh… no."
Takira smiled (her version of a giggle) and quickly moved her arm out from under the boxes. She plucked a fuzzy thing from the box she was holding and chucked it at his head before quickly moving her hand back under the toppling boxes. The fluffy thing, which happened to be slippers, hit his forehead and landed in his box, which he unfortunately dropped as he fell.
Takira rolled her eyes as she gathered the strewn items. "Seriously, Taro, you are more awkward than a teenage girl." She handed him his box.
"Oof. Well… I can't think of a good comeback." Taro admitted. He pointed to a black hole in the brown craggy cliff. "That's where we're headed."
Takira set down the last item, a blue chair that she had been carrying with her charka. "Phew." She sat down heavily. "I guess I haven't recovered yet from using my shadows at noon."
"Oh yeah." Taro dropped the ottoman he had been carrying. "You used your charka at noon so you had to use more. You still can't recover charka as fast as the rest of us-"
Takira had him by the shirtfront. "Don't say it out loud." She hissed.
Taro looked around and backed up. "Takira, no one's here, besides you're still the strongest kunochi I know. Probably the best ninja too, if not maybe for the Kazekage. And you have more charka than three of-"
Takira covered his mouth with her hand. "You really don't enjoy talking, do you?"
Taro shrugged away. "Fine. I won't say anything about your charka."
Unfortunately for the pair, mostly Takira, the worst person Takira could imagine had heard Taro. Unfortunately for the person who heard Taro, he had been seen. Unfortunately for the seer and Takira, the one who would eventually hear about all of this would not be happy when he heard about it.
A/N: again, sorry for the wait. Review!