Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series.
A/N: Criticisms are fine. Don't like, don't read. I apologize for any mistakes in advance.
Beta: VivyPotter
~Chapter 10: Tug-a-Cat~
Naru was in Sasuke's hold as they went to the meeting spot. She didn't understand, why did they even arrive on time when it was obvious the person in question would be several hours late? Sasuke wore a slightly disgruntled look as she took to napping on his fondly-nicknamed duck hair. Sakura arrived with Sai, and it was very easy to tell that Sai said something to piss her off again, probably on purpose.
The slightly evil false smile that Sai had on was note-worthy in its own way as he openly stared at Naru after antagonizing Sakura, who Inner-Sakura inwardly vented her anger for her. She could feel chills run down her spine at his blank stare and she prayed that Kakashi would be on time for once, but to no avail.
"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura and a vested Naru yelled once the sensei finally showed up with one of his infamous 'excuses' (something about a pig and ramen) that no one would ever believe.
With that said, they went back to their boring routine of D-ranked missions.
Damn that dog! How dare it chase her! At least she led it to the trapped area where one blew up right in its face!
Ha, served the idiotic dog right for trying to chew on her tail. She would treasure its expression of shock for years to come.
xxxxx
With the exhausting missions done, everybody went their separate ways. Sakura, who had on a 'so tired she was almost dead' face, didn't even bother Sasuke, and Sai left without saying a word. Naru herself tried to get some freedom to investigate whatever that started to bother her in the back of her mind, but Sasuke wasn't letting her out of his sight ever again since the whole fiasco from before.
She was honestly surprised she wasn't questioned, but perhaps it was just because he didn't want to scare her off again. He followed her in the shadows quietly, wondering where she was going.
Naru was just heading along the roads to where her old living area was where she stumbled onto the scene of Konohamaru bumping into someone vaguely familiar, an enraged Sakura on his tail. The young monkey must have said something to get her pissed off to that degree, but it wasn't that hard to piss off someone with such a short temper anyway.
The strangers in question were very familiar. That neko-eared costume with the painted face and mummy on his back! It was undoubtedly Kankuro, and his sister, Temari on his left who was standing there with a frown at Konohamaru.
"That hurt." was the first thing out of his mouth. She seriously had to raise an eyebrow. What, was he so elderly that he had to say that that tiny bump hurt?
"Huh?" Sakura and the three blinked in surprise at the two.
Konohamaru was lifted off the ground while Naru herself was picked up and brought face to face with someone she hadn't though she would see so soon. Sasuke bristle in his spot and prepared himself.
Gaara's blank face met her eyes as he tilted his head in question. "You're Kyo... right?" he asked uncertainly. The Kyo he knew was a bird, but with how his mother suddenly quietened near this cat, there was the slight suspicion that his short-term friend could take other forms beside the two birds he saw.
"Er... Long time no see?" she replied nervously and he shifted his hold so that he was carrying her, preparing to take her with him.
"Wait a minute, where do you think you are going with her?" Sasuke asked as he finally showed himself to the red-haired sand-nin.
Gaara turned slowly and they entered a stare-down, with Naru being in the crossfire unfortunately. Eventually, he finally answered.
"It is none of your business."
"It is my business when you're taking my partner." Sasuke was quick to reply as he glared even harder, all three of them forgetting the situation below the roofs.
"...Your partner?" Gaara glanced back at the cat he was holding while Naru was mentally pleading.
'Someone please! Get me out of this soap opera!' To her luck, it seemed like someone did hear her plea and helped in the form of the panicked cries from Konohamaru's two friends. "Gaara... Can you stop your brother? That's the Hokage's grandson..." with that said, Sasuke quickly threw a small rock aim at the hand that was choking the kid while Gaara hopped down, but still hid himself to see how his enemy works.
"What do you think you guys are doing in another village?" cue a shriek of fan-girlishness from Sakura and Temari held a small blush.
'He is pretty handsome.' But younger than her, and from another village unfortunately.
"Kankuro, that's enough. You're a real disgrace to our village." Gaara finally stepped in with Naru still dangling in his arms a bit awkwardly as both siblings gave a frightened look.
Ever since that little bird flew off, he was sometimes in a pretty good mood, or moody to the point that he walked off to vent. He was almost like a pregnant woman and they were fearful of his mood swings.
"G-Gaara." Kankuro stuttered nervously and Naru fought the urge to sigh.
Did her fellow Jinchuuriki have to be so dramatic? Even if he wasn't aware that he was being dramatic.
Gaara took note of how the person who claimed to be Kyo's partner hit Kankuro's hand so easily with the rock. He was a note-worthy opponent.
"Let's go." and these words set off another set of arguments with Sasuke who refused to let him go with Naru, who by then was noticed by Gaara's two sibling.
'What's up with the cat?' Kankuro thought and his sister elbowed him. "What?" he whispered back.
"Is it me, or does the eyes look a little... familiar?" indeed, they do look a little familiar. They mentally searched through their memories and compared them to that parrot that suddenly disappeared one day. 'They look exactly the same!' Then it meant it was a spy!
Naru, as if reading their thoughts, refuted. "I wasn't a spy. I was just a tourist who was on vacation." she deadpanned. She eventually left with Gaara with a promise to Sasuke that she'd be back by nightfall and a deeper explanation besides: "He's a friend I made on vacation."
The two exchanged names, and an epic rivalry was formed between them.
"Where should we go first?" Gaara asked as his siblings stared after him in something akin to shock.
"There's a good ramen stand in Konoha. Let's go there first."
"Alright."
xxxxx
Nightfall...
Naru made it back home safely alright, but Gaara still refused to give her back. So both stood in front of Sasuke's doorstep as Sasuke popped a vein.
"...What are you doing here?" this was said with thinly hidden venom as he glared hard at the intruder.
"I'm staying over." Gaara replied monotonously and bluntly.
"No." Short, and straight to the point.
"It has nothing to do with your wishes, Uchiha." he argued back.
"And this is my home, Sabaku." Sasuke fired back and Naru looked between the two of them, rolling her eyes at their childishness. She casually slipped away to get some much needed rest while the two stayed and argued.
Gaara's two sibling looked at each other, both standing awkwardly with their sensei behind them, as they watched the scene unfold. It reminded them of some drama they watched before, involving an overprotective boyfriend and some guy that 'borrowed' his girlfriend. They knew things like this happened all the time, but they didn't think their brother would ever be a part of it.
What was the world coming to...?
xxxxx
A few days later...
"Ah, sorry. I got lost on the road of life!" Kakashi shamelessly lied.
In union, Sakura yelled, while Naru flatly chastised him. "You're late!"
Ignoring that, Kakashi got serious. "I'll get to the point. I recommended all of you to the Chunin's selection exam... So here." He handed over three sheets of paper with their names on it.
"Chunin Exams?" Sakura repeated questioningly for all of them.
He nodded. "Yes; however, the recommendation does not force you to take it." He lied through his mask as he gave them the lazy eye. "You can decide if you want to take it or not. Only those who want to take it needs to have their application signed. Five days after that, get to the academy by 3 PM and go to room 301. That's all." he instructed and finished off his announcement to his team.
Naru honestly wondered if their sensei was quite alright in the head. She even gave him a flying kick to the temple to see if that could fix him; like one would often do to their TV if it decided to die on them. Or maybe it was just because he was a sadist; plain and simple. Beneath that giggling mess lay a beast that would leer and watch them jump around for their lives, only to jump from the pan of frying oil into the fire.
Maybe that silver-hair of his wasn't just for show, and he really was an old geezer. That may also explain the reason why he was always a couple of hours late. Everybody knows that the old need to take their time, or something will break in the hip. And on the plus side, it also explained the mysterious mask that no one could ever get off of his face.
Kami knew, she tried. But of all the infuriating things, there just had to be a mask underneath another freaking mask. Was he shy or something? Or maybe he had skin disease!
But back to the matter at hand, the Genins of Team 7 were staring openly at the forms in the Jonin's hand, who was giving them a very happy (and slightly terrifying) eye smile. The three ninjas in question all had various reactions to the notice that they were going to participate in the Chunin Exam despite how inexperienced they were. She seriously questioned the reason behind this; was it because they happened to not have enough Chunin worthy Genins and decided to throw them into the mix to boost the numbers?
She decided to ask this. "We aren't dummies for show, are we?" She was given a rather surprise look but Kakashi shook his head.
"No, I am really doing this. I believe this would be a good experience for you guys even if you don't pass. Well then, go home and rest or train for today. Ja ne!" And he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
They all prepared to leave once again after spending most of their time waiting on their chronically late sensei.
Sasuke and Naru prepared to jump, but she was caught once again by someone who wanted more time with her. With Gaara on her left, and Sasuke on her right, they fought. Gaara held her left paw hostage, while Sasuke did the same with her right paw, and without reservation for her personal health, they tugged.
Why was she the rope in the game of tug-of-war? Her leftover paws and body dangled helpless in the air as they fought. It was like being a plushie between two kids. At least she knew how it felt like to be a toy. Ah, how she wanted her lazy days back.
"MROW!" both were rewarded with scratches as they over-pulled some muscles she dearly needed in her body.
Serves them right.