And here it is! The last chapter to be released before the new year! I want to thank all of you for your time and review, and everything, really. You're made my few months here great! Oh! And a shout-out to Gaalee1800- I have decided to write at least a couple more chapters to "Hugging Gaara," but I've only got a little bit of the main ideas sketched out. Yay! They're all genins now! (happy dance) Here the adventure begins. And now for replies:
To Miss Princess of Randomness: The first mission here has i's own importance, which will become obvious in later chapters. :)
To Selene98: Thank you! I, personally, think this is going to be great, and I'll prove my title of "Sappiness Master" to all my online buddies who know what I'm talking about.
To Birdy-chan: Actually, Jon got me the subscription (Thanks, GhostStalker!) Yeah, I don't know who I'd talk to if you just disappeared! And, I have a possible solution/answer to your "MirixGaara" question for "From Dreams to Life." If you call me, I'll tell you what I think. AND I've read 6 and 7. I just haven't reviewed yet, which hopefully I'll get to later today.
To SassyOMG2282: I love updating! And I especially loooooooove reading reviews! The next update is due the fifth or sixth of the new year! Yay!
To Dragon of Twilight: Wow, it took eleven chapters just to get her to genin status! Well, I guess that means you can be sure that I won't leave anything unexplained, and I'll milk the best parts for all they're worth. (My definition of the best parts, of course!) Trust me. ;)
Chapter 12: Iku Ze!: My First Mission
I was at the gate at half past five. Just in case. Partly in case I had forgotten something and needed to get it. Mostly in case Gaara came early. A couple of the guards were staring at me. Once finally come up to me.
"Are you from around here?" he asked in a kind voice. I bit my lip. Yes and no, I thought. He was tall, a little taller than Gaara. He had light brown hair that fell, anime-style, around his face. He wore his forehead protector (like most of the men) on his forehead.
At my reaction, he raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Evans Taylor," I replied.
"Really? I haven't heard a name like that befo-"
He stopped in mid-sentence, looking over my shoulder. I was about to turn around when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Hello, Taylor. Oashi," said a voice I recognized.
"Hello, Gaara," I greeted him.
"Hello, Gaara-sama," said the guard with a look of confusion, no doubt resulting from my lack of a suffix.
"Anything wrong?" Gaara asked.
"N-Nothing," the guard said.
"Alright. Back to your post then."
"Hai, Gaara-sama!" Oashi said, trotting. I giggled to myself and put a hand on Gaara's. Even Gaara's lips were turned upward a little.
Eventually I spoke. "I'm going to have to eventually announce who I am," I said. "I'm causing a lot of confusion."
"That's not strictly a problem," Gaara said a little sharply. "You don't have to if you don't want to, Taylor."
His response puzzled me, to say the least. I was spared having to answer by Takashi appearing in front of Gaara and me. He eyed Gaara's hand on my shoulder to the point of rudeness, but before he could say anything, Fushigi, too, appeared.
"I thought we'd all be here earlier," he said lightly, taking in the situation.
"Since we're all here, we may as well leave now," Gaara said, taking his hand off my shoulder. Takashi seemed to relax.
"Hold up one minute," Takashi requested. "Kiro should be here any moment now." Sure enough, the huge cat appeared, rapidly approaching us.
"Hello, Kiro," I said as he reached us.
"Ready?" Fushigi asked.
Takashi nodded. "Yup. Iku ze!"
Gaara turned and led. I followed a little behind him on one side, Fushigi on the other. Takashi walked on my other side, and Kiro was next to him.
The desert sun was setting, turning the sky orange and pink and red. To our right were the brilliant colors of the sunset and to our left the darker shades of night- purple and blue and black. We walked out of the city then picked up the pace farther away.
We talked little on the way, only when strictly necessary, or when Gaara gave instructions. A few times Takashi tried to start a conversation with me, but I replied with curt answers. After a while, he gave up.
We ran for a couple of hours, and then stopped at Gaara's signal. He raised a hand then stopped. Takashi, Kiro, Fushigi and I followed suit.
"We'll stop here for tonight," Gaara told us.
"Okay," Fushigi said.
"We'll need to keep a watch," Takashi pointed out.
"I'll do it," Gaara volunteered.
"Who'll take the next one?" Takashi asked.
I sighed in annoyance and turned to face him. "Baka."
I could've sworn I saw Gaara smile before he spoke.
"I don't sleep at night. Actually, I don't sleep ever, unless it's from exhaustion. The… Shukaku would completely possess if I willingly fell asleep. It's different if I collapse unwillingly. Then the Ichibi will only eat away at my personality."
Takashi stared. "Really? That's… that's…"
"That's horrible," I finished for him. Then, just to annoy him, I reached out to take Gaara's hand.
It worked. Gaara consented while, behind him, Takashi turned the slightest bit red. Just enough to be noticed.
After a moment I let Gaara's hand go and put down my backpack that I had recently bought. Our whole group sat down and ate the food each of us had packed. After that, Fushigi crawled into a sleeping bag. Takashi lay back against Kiro, and I took out my sleeping bag. The four of us made a small circle. Gaara sat down on the outside of the circle and crossed his arms.
Soon enough, I heard Takashi snoring slightly, and Kiro was still. Fushigi was breathing deeply. Gaara of course, was as still as a mountain, keeping watch.
I couldn't sleep. This was my first ever mission, and of course, I knew Gaara was around. But I was still thinking about what he had said in Suna. I had been thinking about it the entire two hours. I couldn't think of another time to ask, so I got up and sat down close to Gaara. The desert got cold at night.
"Taylor?"
"Yeah." I shivered. "It's a little cold, isn't it?"
"It is," Gaara agreed. "What are you doing, still awake?"
I sighed. "I can't sleep. And I kinda wanted to ask you something." I shivered again.
"Sure, but you're cold. Why don't you bring you sleeping bag over here and use it as a blanket?"
Pleased that he was willing to at least hear my question, I complied and sat back down next to him.
"Better," he said. "Now, you said you have a question?"
"Yes." Now how to ask it, I thought. "I don't mean to pry, but… I'm honestly wondering exactly what you meant earlier. About telling Suna who exactly I am?" I trailed at the end.
"Ah, that," Gaara said. "I had a sudden rush of… of feeling. It was different than others that I have experienced before."
"Really? What was it I said that made you feel that?"
"I'm not exactly sure. Perhaps it was that you wanted to tell Suna that you were. For a good reason, of course, but I didn't like it."
"Was there a reason?"
"I'm not exactly sure. It was like…" He looked at the ground. "Like I didn't want to… share you."
I blinked. "That sounds fair," I managed to say. "It makes sense." Not really, unless…
"It does?"
"Yeah. I think you felt… jea-" I wasn't sure if I could say it. "Jealousy."
Gaara looked confused. "Jealousy?"
"Hey, don't quote me on that!" I said, suddenly embarrassed and on the defensive. "I'm not the expert."
"Shh, you'll wake the others." Gaara smiled a little. "I understand. Taylor is not to be quoted on that. But thanks for your help."
I laughed quietly. "Sure." I shivered again. "It gets really cold out here," I repeated. "Next time I'll bring something extra."
"You're still cold?" he asked. He even laughed a little (surprise, surprise). He pulled me a little closer, and wrapped my improvised "blanket" closer around me, his hand lingering around my shoulder. I froze. How deep was this "feeling" of his? I smiled, imagining Takashi's reaction if he had been awake.
"Better?" he asked.
"Yeah, a little, thanks," I said. But I was still a little cold. I wondered why Gaara wasn't freezing.
"Hmm…"
He took his hand off my arm and stood up temporarily, then sat, cross-legged, beside me.
"I don't want you to get sick," he murmured. "So…"
He adjusted my sleeping bag again and pulled me close so we were sitting side by side, touching from hip to shoulder. He put his arms around me, his right around my waist, his left in front of me, wrapped around my shoulder. He pulled me closer to himself and I thought I might have heard him sigh. I sat completely still, shocked.
"Thank you, Gaara," I said very quietly.
"You don't mind being this… close?"
"Of course not." Maybe I would mind if it was someone like Takashi, but not you. I can rely on you."
I heard Gaara make a small surprised sound. To emphasize my claim and gratify my own feelings, I laid my head down on his shoulder and closed my eyes.
"Thank you, Gaara," I said, already drifting off to sleep despite my wishes to stay awake in his arms. There seemed to be something about Gaara that calmed me sometimes, and other times completely got me on edge.
"Sleep well, Taylor-ch-" He stopped. "Taylor." With a thrill of excitement, I fell asleep in the arms of Sabaku no Gaara.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
The next morning, I woke to the quiet sound of someone stirring. I forced my eyes open, and as I did so, I remembered where I was and what had happened.
Gaara sat, still as ever, exactly where he was when I fell asleep. His arms were still around me, shielding me from the cold. It probably wasn't necessary, but I wasn't about to walk away.
"Thank you, Gaara," I said quietly.
Gaara adjusted his position slightly.
"Oh. You're awake?" came his answer.
"Yeah." I heard the stirring again. I looked a bit to my right and saw Takashi moving around. "He woke me up."
"I'm sorry. Are you a light sleeper?"
I nodded. "It's not your fault. I'm glad you were willing to… do that for me."
He knew what I was talking about. "You're welcome, T-" He stopped as I started to move. I moved my arms out of his gentle grasp and wrapped them around his middle and rested my head on his shoulder, burying my face.
He was silent then. After a short moment, I felt the gently pressure of his arms around me. I hugged him back, once again amazed and ecstatic at the same time.
And then Takashi sat up.
He rubbed his eyes, not seeing what was going on.
"It might mean trouble if Takashi sees," Gaara whispered suddenly. I shut my mouth amazed- I had just opened it to say the same thing.
"Right," I agreed, and I unwillingly let go of him. How Gaara figured how Takashi would react, I could only guess. Maybe Takashi felt an… attraction to me? If he did, it wouldn't surprise me. It would make all the puzzle pieces fit together. His actions ever since he'd first seen me all added up. Maybe Gaara had drawn his conclusion from our talk about jealousy last night. If even Gaara didn't want to have to "share me," I doubted Takashi would take it well if he saw what Gaara and I had been doing.
By the time Takashi had fully woken up, Gaara and I had slowly inched apart. He stayed in his place outside the circle, and I rejoined it, crawling inside the sleeping bag to retain some heat.
"'Morning, everyone," Takashi said, yawning.
"Good morning," I answered good-naturedly, feeling just the slightest bit guilty about hiding something from a teammate.
"Ah," came the muffled sound of Fushigi's voice.
"Time to get up, Sleeping Beauty," Takashi teased, leaning over him. Fushigi jolted up and shot him a death stare. He looked dangerous.
"Ah, I take it back," Takashi said quickly. I laughed. I glanced at Gaara and found he had a small, one-sided smile. I grinned widely back. He smiled a little bigger and put a finger to his lips. I nodded, understanding the gesture.
"No trouble during the night, I take it?" Fushigi asked Gaara.
"None at all," Gaara answered a little too quickly. Had he enjoyed the night as much as I had? I had had anything but trouble last night.
Through a silent agreement, each of us got out our breakfasts and ate in haste, intending to travel as far as we could that day-
"If we hurry and make good time, we'll make it to the town by nightfall," Gaara said when we began to eat.
"So, what exactly does this mission entail?" Fushigi asked once we had set out for the day.
"The details are sketchy at best, but there are whispers of unrest in a town south of Suna," Gaara explained. "I've discussed several theories with a few top jounins. In a worst case scenario, we'll have underlings of someone sinister." The names of Orochimaru and Sasori and other Akatsuki members flashed through my head.
"What's best case scenario?" Takashi asked.
"Best case situation is we're dealing with a band of non-shinobi thieves or something like that, in which case, this won't take long. Of course there's the possibility of a shinobi gang."
"It's been known to happen," I said, nodding.
"So there isn't any real solid information, is there?" Fushigi asked.
"No," Gaara replied. "I wish there was. It makes me a little uneasy going into a mission blind, but we'll meet with the person who requested this mission tomorrow."
"Yeah," Takashi agreed. "I like to know what I'm about to do."
Kiro looked at Takashi and made a few noises.
"Kiro wants to look around tonight, without being noticed in the town. We could just stay outside until nightfall, then get inside and look around," Takashi translated. I giggled to myself- he was really was just like a cat version of Kiba.
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Fushigi said. I looked to my left beyond Gaara and saw him withdrawing his hands from a seal.
Gaara nodded. "If we get there before nightfall. If we don't, we can just begin looking around right away."
With a sudden desire to get there, I jumped ahead of the others. "Let's go!" I shouted happily.
Takashi laughed and appeared to my right, Kiro not far behind. Then Gaara appeared to my left, and Fushigi to his left. We kept up the faster pace.
"Excited?" Takashi asked in a teasing voice.
"Maybe."
"Don't push yourself too hard," Gaara said quietly so only I could hear.
"Don't worry," I said discreetly touching his arm. "If you don't want me to…"
"I know, I know," he said, "but all the same… I feel a need to protect you."
I withdrew my hand. "I know. You're doing a good job, Gaara. I mean, really. Watching over me at night…" Gaara grimaced. "What?" I asked.
"It's nothing," he said, "It's just… it's not something I want made public."
"Yeah. That's why I'm speaking only to you. But still, the watching over me, training me, making sure I don't hurt myself training, keeping me in good health. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Gaara said a little shakily. Was he… building up to something? The way he kept looking at me and then away might suggest something like that.
He spoke again, very quietly. "T-Taylor-ch-"
"What are you two talking about?" Takashi asked in a loud voice, interrupting something I had been anxious to hear the end of. I scowled, disappointed.
"Nothing," I replied acidly. "Nothing that concerns you."
"Geez, Taylor," Takashi said in a slightly whiny voice. "No need to get so touchy." It reminded me of Naruto being chastised or yelled at by Sakura. I would mention everything to Cher later. Especially about how Takashi had been acting lately and what Gaara had possibly been about to say. It could hardly be anything else. I was almost certain that he had been about to add a certain suffix to my name. Of course, now I couldn't know for sure, and now I was ticked.
The rest of the day I spoke as little as possible, since Gaara didn't start a conversation with me. Takashi seemed to have discouraged Gaara from saying whatever he had been trying to say.
At about ten o'clock that night, the town came into view. As according to Kiro's suggestion, we entered after everyone was inside for the night. We only had to wait a couple of minutes. It was nice to have civilization nearby, after a couple days in an empty desert. I looked at the town from a distance and absorbed every detail I could. There was a gate similar to the gates of other towns, and most buildings along the outer edge of the town were small and had only one floor. They were most likely farm houses. Farther in, the buildings and homes increased in size, number, and majesty. The smaller buildings, I could tell, were basically the same- cream-colored side and navy-colored tiles on the roofs. The larger dwellings were very different from both the outer homes and each other. Each was a variety of bright colors and odd ornaments and decorations. All together, the buildings looked like they were competing for the title of "Most Conspicuous."
When everyone was gone, Gaara led us quietly into the sleeping town. At least if we were discovered, Gaara would be able to easily get us out of trouble. Then another thought occurred to me.
"Gaara," I whispered, loud enough so Takashi, Kiro, and Fushigi cold hear, "if we get into trouble, you're not going to instantly go all Kazekage on us, are you? I mean, what would be the point of us coming if you were going to take care of everything?" I smiled, and I heard Takashi snickering.
Gaara even smiled a little. "No, I won't. I'll give you until you're fairly worn out or if you're seriously hurt. Then I think I'll step in."
"You think?" Takashi asked sarcastically.
"Of course he will," I put out a little louder than necessary. "Gaara will do what he sees fit. He knows what he's doing and-"
"Shh," Fushigi warned gently.
"Sorry," I said, quietly once more.
We silently searched the entire town. We crept down many allies, explored several garden paths and observed the layout of houses and buildings from the outside. Nothing so far looked suspicious. We'd been searching for over two hours when Takashi had an idea.
"Maybe the trouble is avoiding us. It might be a good idea if we split up and continued to look around. We could set up a patrol and cover more ground at once."
He looked to Gaara, the leader of the abnormally large cell. Gaara thought for a moment.
"Alright," he agreed after a short moment. "We'll give it a try, but on one condition- if you get into any trouble, get out of there as fast as you can and stand on top of that building over there." He pointed to what must have been the tallest building. "And meet here tomorrow morning at six."
"Okay," I agreed.
"Ossu!" Takashi said. "Iku ze, Kiro." He and Kiro disappeared. Fushigi only nodded, then jumped down from the building we were on top of.
"See you in a few hours," I whispered.
"See you then," Gaara replied.
I jumped down and sped away before I could try to think of an excuse to stay with him.
I chose an area of secluded houses. They were fairly far apart, probably a good quarter mile apart from each other. Back in my old life, it would've taken me a few hours to search the whole area. Here and now, in Wind country as a shinobi, I was much faster. I searched half of it in ten minutes. As I kept running, I wondered how the rest were doing.
I pictured Takashi and Kiro walking down a street, the picture of untouched, confident calm. Maybe they were making too much noise. I wouldn't put it past Takashi. I doubted Kiro, a predator by nature, was making much noise at all.
Fushigi was probably the perfect picture of a ninja. Fushigi, I guessed, was probably covering twice as much ground as Takashi. He was the more efficient and sensible of my two teammates.
And, of course, Gaara.
As the leader of the squad, I wasn't sure if he was going to actually look around or fulfill his duty of protecting us, since he was our captain. Actually, it worried me a little that he was going to leave Suna for a while. I was forcibly reminded of Suna's undiscovered vulnerability, which, if everything proceeded as written in the manga, Deidara would bring to light within the next six months. I didn't want him to come, but I new that wouldn't stop the Akatsuki from coming for Gaara. For the One-tailed demon raccoon. I wondered briefly if there was anything that I could do to save Gaara from being killed. Would I be able to help? Be a distraction so Gaara gained the upper hand? Be an ally? There were few possibilities, and from them, few applied to me- to be useful, I'd need chakra. Maybe Rock Lee didn't, but he had been training for much longer than I had. I sighed as I got to the last house.
It was a nice house. Simple, plain, and basic, but charming all the same. It had a huge area of property around it, and for a moment I realized that this wasn't the small town I had taken it for.
The landscape contained gentle hills, a medium-sized, crystal-clear lake, and a thick, mostly untamed forest that had been cut down, and now only covered a square quarter mile. Instantly curious and suspicious at once, I approached it silently and took a single step inside. Everything turned a shade darker and I could feel the presence of a person just ahead. I took one more step, and heard a twig snap above me. Whoever it was, they knew I was there.
And there we have it! Suspense, but you'll only have to wait until the weekend for the nest update. Thirteen is ready to go, but fourteen is over thirty written pages, so that one may take a while. (Useless side note: this chapter is about 3,541 words without all my author's notes! yay! )
Lastly, I want to wish you all a great and wonderfull new year. I'll be staying up for the countdown, even if no one knows it but me! (smiles michievously) I'll probably write or type, but I'll be thinking of you all.
Next chapter: Chapter 13: Fight!: Shinobi Style
