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"Who are you?"
The man with the almost spiky black hair and the girl with long black hair looked at him in shock, which to their credit they seemed to have recovered from fairly quickly.
Zabuza said "Who are you?"
Gaara crossed his arms "I asked you first." He narrowed his eyes.
Zabuza said "Yeah, well you're in my house and I'd like to know why the three of you showed up out of nowhere while I was out training."
Gaara looked at the man. He looked like a fighter. He could see the muscles in his arms. He hadn't attacked, so presumably he wasn't an enemy, or he he was and he didn't know who they were yet. He didn't want to tell him with his Ototo and his Kassan unconscious. He said "I'm not telling you until my Kassan wakes up."
"That's your mother? How old are you?"
"Six." Then Gaara realized he may have just inadverdantly put his mother in danger. He frowned.
"Who's that other boy?"
Gaara frowned "None of your business."
Zabuza growled "Look kid, if I'm going to let ya stay in my house, I'm going to at least know who you are!"
Gaara looked back at his Kassan and Naruto again. What should he do? He frowned, uncomfortable. What should he do? He just noticed the man over his little brother. He stood in a defensive stance now as he rose "What's this?"
Zabuza had taken the necklace from around Naruto's neck. "What is this, boy?"
Haku looked at it too "A genjutsu necklace, Zabuza-san, I saw it a scroll once."
Zabuza's eyes widened. The clan famous for using these necklaces were...the black hair, green eyes, being a swordsman...it all added up to... but it couldn't be. "A wara?"
Gaara jumped, but Zabuza saw he had hit the nail on the head. "Your mom's a Wara, kid? Who's your dad?"
Gaara frowned. He said "My mother didn't give birth to me, or to my ototo. She found us. We are a family with stronger ties than blood!"
Zabuza noticed that the boy was ready to attack at any given notice. He said "Chill out, I'm not going to hurt her. Who are you then?"
Gaara narrowed his eyes, preparing himself for the rejection and fear he would soon be feeling from the man. "I am Sabaku no Gaara. I carry Shukaku."
Zabuza's eyes widened. He had heard of this boy. He was supposed to be a monster. He frowned. A monster, huh? A monster wasn't ready to throw away his life for his friends or family. "Who's the other boy?"
Gaara was shocked again as he didn't get the expected reaction. The girl, it seemed hadn't heard of him, but the man had. He said "That's it? Aren't you scared of me? I'm a monster!"
Zabuza said "A monster doesn't care for anyone. You would have come with me with every intention of killing me if I had hurt either of those two. That is not the behavior of a monster, sure the killing, but not to protect. Who's the other boy? I assume he's not your blook kin either?"
Gaara looked at the sleeping boy he considered his younger brother. He would tell him, after all, the chances were fairly good that if the nin had not attacked yet, he wouldn't attack now. He said "His name is Naruto Uzumaki, container of Kyuubi, the nine tailed fox."
Zabuza's eyes opened wider. He thought 'What have I gotten myself into?' He shook his head. "How did you three get here?"
Gaara said "We used a jutsu. It took a lot of energy out of kassan and ototo."
"But not you."
"Mom didn't use my energy." Gaara decided he would trust these two, at least until they gave him a reason to do otherwise.
Zabuza shook his head. They needed to get to bed if he and Haku were getting up to train in the morning. He said "We're going to go to bed now, you should get some sleep too."
Gaara nodded. He didn't tell the nin he couldn't sleep. Then he wouldn't know that he was keeping an eye on him. He lay down, but kept his head propped up where he could see.
Gaara had been lulled into a peacful state by the sound of the rain that was falling, that was until a pot fell over. He jumped up. He heard sounds of a struggling, instantly a light was turned on and the man was up and the girl, but it was his Kassan who had made the noise. She was now on the floor, tangled in a blanket. She was thrashing in her sleep. "No!" She cried out.
"Kassan! What's wrong?" Naruto woke up too, seeming to sense that something was wrong, even though he was groggy. He snapped out of it when he saw Nekomi, though.
"Kassan!" He went over and shook her like Gaara was "Wake up, Kassan!"
Nekomi thrashed about mumbling "dare attack my family...damn intruders..." Then her voice went from one of anger to one of horror. She screamed "Dai, Ryoku, Shin! Oh God, not you too!!" She screamed "Dai!..."
Then she paused for a minute, her body shaking as tears ran down her face. She whispered "Dead...so many dead...so many." Then angry again "Kill me, Snake-teme, I'll kill you!" Then she made a gurgling noise and seemed to pass out again.
Naruto and Gaara were panicking.
Naruto cried "What do we do?"
"I don't know."
"What's going on?!"
"I don't know!"
Haku asked "Is her head hot?"
They looked at her, shellshocked still, but then Naruto put a hand on his Kassan's forehead and nodded.
Haku said "She has a fever. It could be causing a nightmare. You should put something cool on her forehead." She went off to the bathroom and came back in a minute with a wet cloth. She gave it to Naruto who put it on his Kassan's head.
"Thanks." Both he and Gaara turned back to their Kassan. They knelt beside her. She was shaking. They hugged her.
Zabuza frowned. What had all that been about? They couldn't very well get back to sleep now. Haku was heading towards the kitchen. "Haku, what are you doing now?"
"I'm going to make some soup. It'll help." She dissapeared into the kitchen. Zabuza sighed. His life had sure gotten complicated now. He looked at the boys, the concern they had shown for that woman was real, they were no monsters. He had seen monsters. He had even been one before he had met Haku and she had changed him. He said "She should be back up on the bed where it's more comfortable." The boys let him pick her up, but Gaara frowned. Zabuza noticed he was ready to attack again. It would take a while to earn the trust of that one. He lay her on the bed, then didn't know what to do with himself. Soon Haku came in.
She said "Someone needs to prop her up and feed her. I can feed her..."
Gaara's sand came up behind Nekomi's back and lifted her. Haku climbed onto the bed with the soup, spilling a few drops on the sheets. Naruto climbed up to her left. Haku asked "Can you open her mouth and then close it when I put the soup in?"
Naruto nodded. Nekomi coughed at the first bit, but took the rest. Then Gaara let her back down and put the cloth on her forehead again. Hours later, they still sat up watching her, they didn't mean to fall asleep. Gaara was even lulled into a state of half consciousness until the morning.
The thing that woke them all up in the morning was a loud groan.
Nekomi woke up weakly with something wet on her head laying on something soft "Where am I?" Suddenly both Naruto and Gaara were on top of her.
"Kassan! You're ok" "You're better!"
Nekomi asked "Better?"
Gaara said "You had a fever."
Naruto said "And a nightmare."
Zabuza spoke up "And you're in my house." He yawned, not able to keep it in. He had been disturbed in the middle of the night afterall.
Nekomi looked at him. "Kiri...we're in kiri?"
"Yep, sorta. Outside Kiri really."
"Who are you?"
"Zabuza Momoichi and this is Haku. Your son told me about you three."
Nekomi looked at Gaara in surprise, but didn't say anything, she did say "So, I'm not dead. That mean we're allies?"
Zabuza shook his head at this woman and said "I'd have to be crazy not to be, besides, if I wasn't your ally, I'd be your enemy and then I'd end up entombed by flame head over there."
Gaara scowled at this nickname..
Nekomi said "Good." She continued to lay back. "That's good."
Naruto asked "Aren't you going to get up, Kassan?" He frowned.
Nekomi chuckled "Not enough energy yet. Just enough to be awake."
Naruto held out his hands "I can give you some more!"
Nekomi shook her head "Not enough energy to do that. Need food."
Naruto and Gaara frowned at seeing their Kassan so weak again. Zabuza turned to go out. Haku asked "Where are you going, Zabuza-san?"
"To catch some fish. We'll need breakfast. Make some rice, Haku." He sighed. "It looks like we'll be having houseguests for a while."
"Hai, Zabuza-san."
Before the man went out the door, Nekomi said in a voice just loud enough for him to hear "Nice sword."
He paused, then smiled slightly, "Back at ya." He left.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII So, what do you guys think? Good chapter?