Chapter 10: Sunagakure

We met up with Team Kurenai in the afternoon the next day. Kiba seemed to avert my eyes, I looked at him sadly. I had no idea what was going on in that head of his. One minute he would be smiling at me, and the next he would be completely avoiding me.

"Azusa-chan, are you ready?" Hinata asked.

Kurenai-san wasn't here because of her pregnancy, so it seemed like I was in charge. My heart pounded from nervousness. This was my first time ever being in charge of a mission, and not only did I need to lead three genin, I had to lead three chunin as well! It was nerve wracking. "Yes, I'm ready," I replied hesitantly. Getting to Sunagakure would be the easy part wouldn't it?

When we finally arrived in the sand village we could already see the damage that had been dealt when Gaara had been kidnapped. We entered the village gates and were lead up to the kazekage's office. Gaara sat at his desk writing something on to a piece of paper. "Kazekage-sama," the ninja that led us to Gaara called. He looked up and stopped his writing.

"Gaara-san," I smiled.

"Azusa-san, you guys came. Thank you," Gaara said. He seemed much more peaceful than the last time I'd seen him three years ago when he entered our village for the chunin exams.

"Glad we could be of assistance," Kiba grinned, seemingly back to his usually cheery self.

"Since our defense has fallen many groups of rogue ninja have been trying to infiltrate Sunagakure. We just need help with our defense." Gaara said.

"We'll help in any way we can," I replied.

Then Gaara spotted Tsuyoi, Shou, and Takeshi behind me. "I've never met them before," Gaara said curiously.

"They're my team." I explained. "Genin, but they're really talented so they'll be okay, I promise."

Gaara nodded, "you'll be needing a place to stay won't you?" He turned towards the man that led us to him. "If you would."

The man nodded and led us away. He showed us to our rooms and we settled in. Team Kurenai got their rooms, and my team and I got our own.

"The Kazekage seems really nice," Tsuyoi smiled.

"Yeah, completely different from the chunin exams," Shou replied.

"He seems a lot better now. I'm glad," I smiled.

Tsuyoi looked at me, "are you really that good of friends with the Kazekage, Azusa-san? You addressed him by his name when you saw him."

"It's just because I've known him for a long time and I'm not really used to calling him Kazekage. Gaara-san and I aren't really that close, I've only talked to him a few times and that was three years ago." I laughed remembering the time I snuck away from Sasuke just to see talk to Gaara-san. Everyone seemed afraid of him, but no matter what he didn't look scary to me, he just looked sad. Sasuke was one of those people that was against me getting to know him. The first time I'd met Gaara-san he'd actually yelled at me, but soon he got used to me.

Takeshi laid down on the ground and shut his eyes.

"Are you tired Takeshi?" I asked.

There was no reply until Tsuyoi poked him. "Takeshi-kun, when Azusa-san asks you something you should answer her."

Takeshi turned and looked at me, "I'm tired." He said bluntly then turned the other direction to sleep. I didn't know if Takeshi was stubborn or shy, but he reminded me a lot of Sasuke.

"Come to think of it I'm pretty exhausted too," Shou said.

"Me too," Tsuyoi chimed in.

"I'll just let you guys rest then," I smiled. "If you need anything I'll be in the next room with team Kurenai." I walked towards the door and watched them all settle on to the floor. I remembered when I would do that with my team also, then I left the room and entered the next room. "Sorry to disturb," I apologized.

"It's okay," Hinata-chan smiled. "Where's your team?"

"They're a little tired so I let them rest. It reminds me of when I was still a genin," I said.

"I remember when you were a genin Azusa," Kiba laughed. "You had really short hair and a short temper. You were only good in battle, but were horrible when it came to studying. If Naruto hadn't been in our class you would've last in the academics portion."

"Shut-up," I said sticking out my tongue at him. "Nobody asked you. You weren't all that great either."

Hinata laughed, "Azusa-chan would always beat up the boys that said bad things about Sasuke-kun and get in trouble."

My face turned bright red, "Hinata! Whose side are you on?" Then everyone began to laugh.

"Oh, I'm going to stand out and guard with the sand ninjas tonight, I think we should rotate each day," I suggested.

"Azusa-chan, you're always so serious aren't you? So it's extra special to see you not serious," Hinata smiled.

"I guess," I blushed.

"I think we should go in pairs," Kiba said. "Azusa and I can watch tonight, and then everyone can just pair up."

"Okay," Hinata smiled. "Are you okay with that Azusa-chan?"

I looked at Kiba, but he turned away from me. Looking down at the floor I nodded, "yeah, I'm okay with it."

Kiba and I went out with the midnight guards right at sunset. We sat on the roof of the Sunagakure main building. The sunset was dying the whole desert a deep red. You could look on and on at the sand and it would never end, like a sea.

"It's nice isn't it?" Kiba said cautiously turning to look over at me.

I nodded, "all you can see in Konoha are trees, I've never seen the earth so barren before."

Then there was silence. What could I say to him? There was nothing to be said between us right now. I had no idea what ran through Kiba's mind, maybe I would never understand. Was I a nuisance? Why would he pair himself up with me to stand guard at night? At this rate, these would be the most silent hours of my life. Akamaru, whined and broke the silence, staring at Kiba with serious eyes.

"What, boy?" Kiba asked staring at Akamaru with confused eyes. Then Akamaru rose his paw and lightly hit Kiba across the head. "What the hell was that for!" Kiba cried, and Akamaru seemed to smiled. I laughed, it wasn't everyday that you got to see Akamaru hit Kiba. Kiba looked at me with a nervous expression, then sighed. "I've been a jerk to you Azusa," he said.

I looked at him with a surprised expression. "Kiba-"

"That's probably why Akamaru hit me," Kiba told me while frowning at Akamaru. "But… its just hard to explain Azusa. I just wanted to say sorry was all."

"I see, you're forgiven." I smiled.

"I'll explain sometime soon, okay Azusa?"

"Yeah." I replied, and once again it was silent.

We'd been sitting outside for hours now and the sun had begun to rise. Both of us looked tired and ready to sleep. "Tired?" Kiba asked the obvious.

I nodded.

"It'll only be a few more hours, you can sleep, I'll keep watch." Kiba offered.

I nodded again and leaned on his shoulder, shutting my eyes. "Kiba, can you explain why you've been a jerk to me now?" I asked drowsily. He looked surprised even in his sleepiness.

"It's because you still-" but I didn't hear the rest of his sentence before I was consumed by sleep.

The words that Kiba were going to say:

"It's because you still belong to Sasuke, and I love you."

But they went unheard.