Chapter 10

Matsuri had a hard time sleeping. Every time she was close to slipping into her dreams images of the blood puddles ran through her mind. She sighed as it became evident that rest refused to come to her. She had worked hard today, she needed to catch a few Z's. Her belly rumbled lightly, reminding her that Gaara had refused her food. She frowned as she remembered his coldness...

Gaara stood in the kitchen, watching Matsuri cook. She was not yet aware of his presence, all her attention focused on the rising bread. When the redhead finally spoke he nearly gave her a heart attack.

"Why isn't the blood cleaned?" She leapt in the air, yelping as she spun around to face him.

"I was scared..." She said as the oven went off. She spun around, pulling the bread from the oven and setting it on the counter. Just as Matsuri was going to begin eating Gaara strolled around the counter. His turquoise eyes gleamed evilly as he took the bread, his voice lecturing.

"Since you're new I'll cut you some slack; clean it up and you can eat." She lunged for it, and in response he lifted it up higher. After a while of jumping for her food Gaara became sick of her foolishness. Using his sand Matsuri was dangled in the air. She watched as he began eating it, staring into her umber eyes.

"But I made that...That isn't fair!" Matsuri complained, her eyes watering. He grinned wolfishly at her.

"You made it out of my stuff." Suddenly, Matsuri was dropped to the ground. "Now go clean the mess."

...Matsuri sighed at the memory, blushing as she remembered him watching her clean his puddles of blood. Okay, it was official, she had to get out of here. She snuck over to the door, attempting to open it. She gasped angrily when it refused to budge, frowning and slamming herself against the door.

"Ow!" She hissed, holding her shoulder. She flipped her eyes over to the window on the far side of her room. She snuck over to it, pulling it up quickly. She looked back and forth, and then looked down. She gulped at the long distance, wandering if she could climb down...She put one of her feet out, setting it firmly on the edge. It was time to stage her escape. Just as she had gotten her butt out of the window her door slammed open.

"Mats-" Gaara stopped talking, dropping the stained shirt he had been holding earlier. Matsuri felt panic fill her as pure rage entered his face. He outstretched his hand and Matsuri began backing out of the window a bit faster. Just as she had popped through she looked down into the desert below her. She nearly screamed when she noticed a giant sand tidal wave aimed for her. She pressed her back against the open window, knowing that it was too late for her to do anything as it came crashing towards her. The sand wrapped around her, and for a moment she thought that she would be suffocated. She closed her eyes tightly as something firmly wrapped around her. After a moment of stillness she dared to open her eyes. She gaped as a woman made of sand stared back at her, the woman's face solemn. She looked down to see herself enwrapped in a hand of sand. She turned back to the window to see Gaara glaring at her.

"Thinking of escaping, I see." Gaara growled in a tone that sent shivers of fear down Matsuri's spine.

"I wanted some fresh air..." Matsuri winced as Gaara's glare turned more fearsome at her lie.

"You won't be thinking of escape if you don't have arms." Gaara said, his voice contemplative. Panic ran through Matsuri and she gulped loudly.

"Um, well...About that, if I don't have arms I won't be able to clean and stuff." Matsuri smiled sheepishly, and the blood-thirsty grin she received from Gaara told her that it might have been better if she had just lost her arm.

"You're right, a more creative punishment is in order." Gaara snickered at that, a malicious sound that sent chills down Matsuri's spine. She felt herself being lowered until she was dropped onto the ground. She tumbled about five feet before she hit the ground with a smashing impact. She tried to recover her breath, but she felt herself being pulled to her shaky legs once more. She was pulled up off of the ground so that she met Gaara's eyes.

"I'm sorry?" She squeaked, knowing it was far too late. Gaara's face contorted into a malicious smile.

"You will be soon." He smiled, dropping her carelessly and having the sand pull her along.

...

"125...126...127..." Tenten panted as she did her pushups. Her arms shook beneath her and her sweat was soaking through her clothes. She felt Neji's cold eyes on her back. She felt his foot meet her back, knocking her down.

"Weak." Neji growled, his voice condescending. Tenten's cheeks flamed red from exhaustion, embarrassment, and anger. That was the fourth time he had called her weak this morning. She glared into his cold violet eyes, her breath shallow. "You are hopeless." Neji sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Tenten bit her lip, a mixture of anger and impatience building within her.

"Can you start with easier workouts then twenty laps, four hundred crunches, and five hundred pushups?" Sarcasm dripped in Tenten's tone as she stared at Neji. Neji snorted, a sound that was rather atypical from him, before speaking.

"You're lucky I let you do crunches instead of sit-ups. I was going easy on you," Tenten put a hand on her hip, opening her mouth to haughtily reply. "If you don't like my training then leave my mountain." Neji growled hatefully, his cold eyes boring into Tenten. For a moment, Tenten considered leaving. If she couldn't find another person to train her she could always train herself. But then again, that would be letting this sexist son of a gun win. That would be proving that a girl couldn't stand his ruthless training. A small smile stretched across her face as an idea popped into her head. She would wait until her training was complete and then she would reveal her gender to him. How do you like that, you sexist creep? She grinned at him, and his eyes flashed back emotionlessly.

"I'll stay." She said, bending down and beginning her push-ups once more. She ignored her muscles as they screamed in agony, fueling herself with the image of Neji's face when he knew she was female. Oh, and that she had to help her friends. That was very important too.

"Hurry up, I'm going to go fix lunch." Neji's voice was derogatory, but Tenten ignored his condescending speech patterns and instead focused on her push-ups. By golly she was going to save her friends if it was the last thing she did on this planet. A delicious smell wafted from Neji's hut, and Tenten's stomach suddenly felt a whole lot hungrier. She watched as he walked out of the cottage holding two bowl, one he began to eat and the other he placed in front of Tenten. She blushed as her stomach growled loudly at the bowl, beckoning for her to stop her push-ups and to start eating. She ignored her urges to eat, instead focusing on her work-outs.

"Strength is in the will of a person. It is found within their resolve," Neji smiled lightly at her as she glared at him. She would've responded had she not been busy trying to resist the food tempting her.

"305...306...307..." She had began to pick up the pace, ignoring the not-so-subtle shaking of her arms. She gulped in air at every chance she had, her panting growing almost as drastically as the burn of her overused muscles. When she finally reached 400 she felt as though she would collapse.

"That's enough. Eat, then you can do the rest." Tenten immediately complied, dropping to the ground and eating heartily.

"You aren't too bad, Qing. Most would've left earlier." Tenten nodded as she ate, not bothering to slow down. She acknowledged him with a quick nod, then turned back to her food. "That being said, you need a lot of work." At that, Tenten choked. She spat out the offending food, glaring at Neji. He laughed in return, a surprisingly nice sound. "I'm serious, by the time I'm done with you you'll be a man," He took the empty soup bowls, stacking them quickly. "There are many things you're lacking in, but mister I'll make a man out of you." Tenten frowned at how familiar the words seemed. However, she ignored it, trailing after Neji as her muscles relaxed. Unfortunately, most of her muscles were still screaming in protest as she followed her Sensei.

"Ugh. This training makes my muscles ache." She complained, subbing her shoulder. Neji turned around, his eyes back to the cold, emotionless stare.

"Don't you have 100 push-ups left?" Tenten groaned, walking back outside and practically collapsing on the ground. He was definitely the worst teacher known to man.

...

"Tenten, Ino, and Matsuri." Sakura stared at her bedroom wall as Hinata's fingers danced over her hair. Recently, Sakura had began using a headband to keep her hair out of her face. Her hair was still long and following, reaching all the way to her waist. "Matsuri was my fault." Sakura said, tears filling her eyes.

"I'm calling BS on that one, sister." Sakura turned to where Karin sat, munching on a bag of chips as Temari painted her nails. "If you had been there the kidnapper would've killed you or something."

"Ye-Yes, Sakura, you couldn't have st-stopped a bounty hunter." Sakura sighed at that, knowing that it was probably truthful. She couldn't have stopped him. But maybe he would not have came if she had been there.

"I think the freak used Ino's disappearance as a diversion." Temari stated as she finished Karin's left hand. Karin blew on the nails herself, releasing Temari from her nail-painting duty. Temari stood and stretched, yawning loudly. "I say we just focus on our 'princess etiquette' lessons until we start to get our magic." Temari said as she slumped down behind Hinata.

"I-I'm worried about them..." Hinata stared at the ground, a blush on her face as she tied off Sakura's loose braid. She immediately began working on Temari's hair. Karin yawned loudly, nodding as she did so.

"I miss 'em. But I am also kind of jealous." Karin said, earning the attention of everyone in the room.

"How so?" Temari asked, staring at Karin suspiciously.

"Well, they get to be out there, living their lives! I mean, Ino is waiting in a castle for her true love, which is sorta romantic, Tenten is out there training somewhere to be a fighter powerful to take on an Akatsuki member, and Matsuri is developing a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome and probably making out with her most likely incredibly-attractive captor right now. And we are all sitting here, braiding hair, painting toe nails, and missing our friends. Does that sound right to any of you?" Karin finished blowing her nails dry and flopped down on her back.

"She has a point," Temari said, a frown twisted on her face. "Bot only Karin would want a curse inflicted on her." This earned a few giggled from Sakura and Hinata. Karin shook her head at her friends, a dreamy look on her face.

"Whatever, guys. When I get to live my life I am not gonna waste it. I'm gonna take chances and have no regrets," Karin blinked once, yawning loudly and stretching across the floor. "I'm tired, goodnight." With that, Karin evacuated the room. Temari stared after her, stretching a bit.

"I'm tired too," She said, knocking Hinata from her hair. "Goodnight, ladies. I wish you as good of rest as Ino's." She blew a kiss before fading from the room, walking off to her own room. Hinata wrapped her arms around Sakura quickly.

"Goodnight, Sakura." She said before darting off to her own room. Sakura sighed, standing up and turning off the lights in her room. She stared at the moon before bursting into tears. Sakura cursed her life. Of course the moment she became good friends with Ino, Matsuri, and Tenten they would be ripped away. Now all that was left was her, the pink-haired freak as her old bullies often said, a shy heiress, and two sassy, buxom girls. Oh, and four curses. Don't forget the lovely, lovely curses.

...

Yay! i finally got this out! Anyways, you may notice that Neji's dialogue is a bit strange when he is talking to Tenten.

"Mister I'll make a man out of you," This is an exact line in movie 'Mulan.' It is from Shang, who Neji is supposed to sorta be right now. Just like how Tenten is Mulan! :) Thanks for reading and please review!