Ura felt much better entering the arena with her team. Hearing the crowds, looking around at all the people, and all the excitement in the air made her more anxious to fight someone. She was happy that Naruto showed up late, but recieved a glare from Neji. Well, he should be mad, she embaressed him in front of a lot of people at the Preliminary Rounds. At least she wasn't fight him again, then she would've killed him instead of being stopped at the last moment like last time. Ura then turned back to the Prompter, she listened to the crowds cheering as if they were honorary members of some sort. It felt nice to be seen by so many people like a hero, that she was good enough for their attention. Ura even waved her hand to the crowd, which caused her teammates to glare at her for being so impulsive.
"You have to look strong, not like some important person," Kankurou nudged her side gently, "Put your hand down."
"Fine, fine," Ura scoffed as she obeyed her teammate.
Then the Kazekage appeared next to the Hokage high in the stands. Gaara looked furious at the Kazekage. Ura glanced from Gaara to the Kazekage, she could feel her own animosity grow as she gazed up at her Suna leader. He shouldn't have sent her away so easily, because if she got to fight someone that day...he would want her back in his village so he didn't have an enemy as strong as herself.
The Genin were sent to a small little area below the stands where the crowds sat. Ura was excited that Naruto and Neji were the first to fight. She stood near the railing as she heard what Neji had to say about how Naruto couldn't win due to his fate. Ura just rolled her eyes and waited for Naruto to just beat the hell out of the damn Hyuuga guy. Kankurou noticed Ura's irritation and smiled at her, "You really want that blonde guy to win, don't you?"
"I trained his ass off yesterday, he better win," Ura stated as she crossed her arms.
"That Neji guy is kinda strong though. I don't think he'll stand a chance," Kankurou commented as he watched the match start, "You see? Your friend isn't putting up much of a fight."
"Yes he is!" Ura punched his shoulder angrily as she yelled down at Naruto, "GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR AND HIT HIM ALREADY!"
"I'M TRYING, SHUT UP!"
Kankurou burst out laughing as Ura was about to leap off the railing to punch Naruto, but he caught her just in time, "Alright, alright, I think he get's your point."
"Still.." Ura pouted as she glared down at the battle, "Naruto is strong, he just needs pushed in the right direction."
"I think he has enough drive in him to help himself," Temari joined the conversation.
"Even so, someone had to make him become what he is now. If he didn't have me or his other friends, he would just be what everyone elsed wanted him to be," Ura stated, then looked over at Gaara, then she felt guilty for bringing the subject up.
She looked over at Temari to see a smirk on her face, getting Ura annoyed as she realized Temari had set up the conversation that way. Oh well, she'll get her back sooner or later. Kankurou noticed finally and just gave Temari a glare, "C'mon Ura, let's go for a little walk. I think they're going to be duking it out for a bit down there."
"Fine..." Ura groaned as she followed Kankurou.
Once they were out of hearing distance, Kankurou stopped walking on the steps, "Sorry about that, Temari can be a handful like Gaara sometimes."
"I'm quite sure of that," Ura grimaced as she held her arms, "I hope Gaara didn't listen to us."
"I doubt it, he's so warped about fighting Sasuke that he hasn't really been paying attention to many people," Kankurou sighed, but he could see how sad and worried Ura was.
It was the least he could do... He took off his head gear for a moment, exposing his dark brown hair, and softly took Ura's upper arm. She turned to see what he was doing and felt his soft lips on her own. Her eyes were wide as she realized what he was doing, though he merely just held his lips against her own. Why was he kissing her? It wasn't as if she was enjoying the intimate moment, but not with Kankurou. She didn't feel the connection like she felt with Gaara. In the mean time, she closed her eyes and pictured Gaara kissing her.
He slowly parted their kiss and took a step back, a blush tinting his face as he looked away. Ura guessed he was waiting for her reaction as he started to look a little embaressed. She couldn't have him acting weird around her, not when she was trying to gain acceptance back as a Suna kunoichi. With a smile on her face, Ura had to pretend in order to keep her friend. Ura patted his chest gently with her free hand, "Didn't think you had it in you at all, Kankurou."
"Yeah...well," Kankurou smiled away his blush as he looked over at her, "I didn't think I had it in me either. You looked really upset about what happened a little bit ago and...well, stuff happens when men see women sad."
They stood in silence for a moment before Ura suggested they walk back. When they arrived back, Naruto had won the battle against Neji. Ura was thrilled to see that her friend had won against Neji and was beaming from her happiness. Since Sasuke was still late with his battle with Gaara, it was then Temari's and Shikamaru's battle. Ura knew Temari would win, but Shikamaru must've been doing something right if he made it that far with his Shadow Jutsu. Their battle took awhile because Shikamaru was waiting in the trees so there would be more shadows for him to manipulate. After some more time passed, he eventually gave up and said it would be too easy to win. Though Temari was named the winner, she was still mad that Shikamaru didn't let her fight. Temari returned to the others with anger written all over her face.
Ura noticed Temari and Kankurou start to seem a bit worried. What was going on that they weren't allowed to say? Gaara seemed pretty chill... Well, as long as Gaara wasn't worried, then neither would Ura. What surprised her the most was hearing Kankurou giving up his fight with Shino. Kankurou never passed up the chance to use his puppets to his advantage.. Ura was suspicious, that only left Gaara and Sasuke to fight. Gaara went down to the arena with ease and waited. Ura was worried if Sasuke didn't show up, that meant that she would have to fight Gaara. She wasn't worried about who won, but more along the lines that she didn't want to choose between having Gaara move ahead of her in the ninja ranking system or hurting him.
To much to her surprise, Sasuke did finally show up for his own battle. Ura was relieved knowing she wouldn't have to fight Gaara, but was curious to know why Sasuke showed up at the last minute. Besides, that move he used on her yesterday... If it was powerful enough to scar her up, what could it do to Gaara? She was worried about if Gaara got hurt... What could she do? It's not like she could just run down there and protect him. If she had the option, she would though. She watched the battle while she held the railing tightly, watching Sasuke basically get through to Gaara several times despite Gaara's sand as his protection. Her hands became numb as she gripped the railing even tighter, her worry for Gaara's safety was on overdrive as she continued to watch the match in fear. Temari and Kankurou looked over at their other teammate with worry. Kankurou whispered to Temari, "We should tell her the plan..."
"Baki said no," Temari snapped in her whisper, "He said Ura will just try and stop them. If she is truly on our side, then she will follow us despite what the plan says."
"Right..." Kankurou grumbled as he turned back to the match, "I hope she's on our side though..."
"Me too..." Temari murmured as she did the same.
Then, Ura watched as Sasuke slid up the wall. Her eyes widened... He was going to do that chakra attack on Gaara. Sweat beaded down her face as her fear for Gaara's safety was in jeopardy. No matter how strong his defense was inside that ball of sand, Sasuke would be able to hit Gaara going head on like that. Ura neared the railing, debating whether or not to stop the battle despite being kicked out of the final exam. What did it matter anymore? Gaara was going to get hurt! Her teammates noticed her ready to jump and yanked her away from the railing. Temari locked Ura against her using her fan as she turned to Kankurou, "Tell me when it's over."
"Got it," Kankurou answered as he continued to watch the match.
In the next minute, Ura heard the bird's chirping, the sound of running, and then... Sasuke did it. The Uchiha had managed to break through Gaara's sand barrior and actually make a direct hit. Ura's eyes filled up with tears as her iris' turned a bright crimson from rage. Sasuke had managed to hurt Gaara.
"!"
"GAARA!" Ura screamed as she shoved Temari away with ease with newfound strength.
Kankurou turned and rammed Ura back into the wall with all the strength he had. Sweat formed on his face from trying to hold back Ura as her entire eyes turned bright red. Where was the damn signal? It took about a few more minutes before Temari took Kankurou's shoulder, "The signal is in place, we need to leave now."
"But Ura-"
"Let me do this," Temari took Ura's face and gripped her jaw tightly, "If you want to save Gaara, then help us get him out of here now!"
Ura slowly started to calm down, but she was still pissed that Sasuke had managed to hurt Gaara. Kankurou released her as they leaped down to the arena, trying to help Gaara get up. Temari took Gaara in one shoulder and leaped away. Kankurou and Ura followed as they tried to get Gaara out as fast as they could. Ura kept her eyes focused on Gaara, not wanting to take her sight off of him. He was in serious pain... But it wasn't Sasuke that had hurt him, Ura knew it was Shukaku trying to come out so he could kill Sasuke. When they stopped, Sasuke had appeared and Temari gave Gaara to Kankurou so she could fight him. Kankurou held Gaara as he ran off as Ura followed. Where were they going? Ura knew the cliff was nearby, were they heading back to Suna? They stopped again, again it was Sasuke. Ura was growing angrier and angrier that he was still following them.
"Here, take Gaara and run," Kankurou handed Gaara over to Ura.
She nodded and continued to run as fast as she could, only to be stopped by Sasuke. Ura lost her footing and fell down a branch, but landed and kept a firm hold on Gaara, "Go away, Sasuke, this doesn't concern you!"
"My village is under attack by your village," Sasuke yelled down at her, "Tell me how that isn't my problem!"
"Get...off of me!" Gaara slowly came to and thrusted Ura off of him.
She went through a tree and smashed against the second one. Ura barely had any conscious left, but she came to after a moment of remembering where she was at. The next thing she heard were a familiar scream and a voice... Where had she heard that scream and voice from? Her eyes widened, Sakura had screamed and that was...Naruto's voice. She got on her feet and leaped to a branch where she saw Gaara with half a different body. What...what was that? That couldn't be..that was Shukaku!
'Gaara... What...what happend to you?' Ura thought as she froze over from just looking at Gaara.
"Naruto... Don't hurt him..." Ura breathed as she watched both Gaara and Naruto begin to fight as well.
Ura had to leap back some more as Shukaku became bigger, having Gaara's small body exposed as Naruto summoned a large toad. That was then Ura couldn't idle by anymore. She had to protect Gaara's body no matter what. No weapons were to be used, she didn't want to hurt Naruto either. Running from tree-to-tree, then leaping onto the toad as she finally reached the top. Ura leaped in front of Naruto and stopped him, "Stop this now! I can't let you fight Gaara!"
"Why the hell not! He can't just think he can get away with this!" Naruto yelled back at her, about to shove her away from the scene.
"Then fight me instead!" Ura pushed Naruto back.
"Do you want me to get rid of her?" spoke Gamabunta.
"Why does it matter so much then?" Naruto glared as he made sure Shukaku wasn't about to attack.
"Because..." Ura tried to fight back her anger, then stated, "Gaara means too much to me for you to hurt him!"
Naruto hesitated, then understood what she meant. Gaara was out cold and hadn't heard a word she had said. He looked back at Ura, a bit disappointed at what he had to do. Naruto then snatched her wrist and yanked her towards him, "Look, I'm not trying to kill him, but i'm not going to let him leave freely and hurt the village."
Ura was about to fight back, but knew it was little use. Gaara was destroying the forest and possibly go to the village if they're not careful enough. Releasing herself from Naruto's grip, Ura looked over at Gaara, "Naruto, thank you."
With that, she leaped off the toad and landed among the trees to make sure Naruto kept his word. The battle continued for a few more minutes before Naruto headbutted Gaara. He then punched Gaara in the face, knocking him off of Shukaku and then falling to the ground. Ura watched as the two fell, hitting the earth with such force. She ran over to see Gaara and Naruto laying on the ground, both were fine. Watching from a short distance, Naruto started to crawl with his chin over to Gaara as Gaara yelled at him to stay away. Naruto growled at him, telling him that he would stop him, even kill him, if he were to harm his friends.
"Why? Why would you do that besides for only yourself?" Gaara asked in a mumble.
Ura heard Naruto's words with some warmth in her heart. Her eyes only on Gaara as she wished she could've stayed by his side longer. His chakra was gone, he was nothing by a normal shinobi without his sand to protect him. Ura went over to Gaara and knelt by him, "It's over, Gaara, you're safe. I'm here."
Gaara said nothing, not even a malice word as he turned from Naruto to Ura. She carefully picked him up, slinging one of his arms over her shoulder. Sasuke appeared in front of Naruto, telling him it was also over. Naruto looked up at Ura holding Gaara. No matter how far Ura had been from Gaara, she never stopped thinking about him. She always compared Naruto to Gaara, always saying how he could be as strong as her friend back in Suna was. Gaara was never truly alone... He was just blind because someone had never forgot about him.
Temari and Kankurou appeared, but Gaara told them the fight was over. They turned and Ura followed them back to Suna. Before they left the forest, Gaara then softly called out to his siblings, "Temari, Kankurou... I'm sorry."
Kankurou looked over at Temari, then answered, "Don't worry about it.."
"Ura... It wasn't your fault, i'm sorry," Gaara murmured as Ura held him so he wouldn't fall.
A smile formed on Ura's face as her heart warmed from his words, "Thank you."
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Naruto
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Naruto laid in his bed as he stared up at the ceiling. Sasuke sat next to Naruto's bed as he waited for their sensei to show up.
"She's...she's really gone.." Naruto grumbled.
"Yeah..." Sasuke answered in a short manner, "She's gone.."
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A/N
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I hope you guys enjoyed reading Part One : Growing Kunoichi! Don't worry i'm not done writing, in a day or two i'll post Part Two : Words Aren't Forgotten. Just to make things clear, it's going to dwindle away from the original plot as seen in the series. Part Two is going to dive into relationships and pairings. I appreciate all the love in the reviews and i'm happy to see that Ura has a good number of fans out there cheering for her. Please continue, it really brightens my day.