A.N: Hi it's me the author Nicky-Dark ^_^

Sorry for this but just want to clear up a few things from my last chapter that I now realised I got a bit mixed up ^_^'

The scroll Nicola's team got was actually a heavens scroll.

I shortened the exams to only two days to complete the mission instead of five.

Nicola when she was split, the human form has to go a LONG way off to find Naruto and she fought that other team out it took quite a while to do. That and getting the info from the wolf her, well it's a big distraction and slowed her down a lot. So that sorts out the time.

Sorry for the confusion ^_^'

And the typing errors but I will make sure there are none in this next chapter!

Now enjoy the new chapter! XD

Chapter 14: What do you mean Preliminaries?!

We were all lined up in our teams, one behind the other. All of seven teams that had managed to make it through to the next round and here we are, all looking warn out and scruffy but were still standing in such neat team lines. Until you get to my team, because as we all know, my team has two more people then anyone else's. So team seven had Sakura and Naruto who were at the back, sticking out of our little formal group, and were looking very unhappy about their predicament to top this idiotic cake off.

I on the other hand am stuck in the middle of our line right in between Arisu and Sakura who are throwing glairs around at each other like cartoon characters trying to not be the one who is still holding the dynamite when it goes off.

Naruto is at the back and I spot him glancing at a certain Hyuga every now and then who just happens to be at the back of her row in plain view for him to look at. I bet that was Kiba's idea, after all, he knows how she likes him so much and is evil enough to embrace her like that. It seems like dog boy actually did something useful for once.

Sasuke seems to be having a hard time on the other hand. He is holding his neck where that snake Orochimaru bit him and it looks like that cursed mark of his is causing him some trouble. This is causing a small argument up front where Arisu is trying to get Sasuke to tell someone about it, but he is having none of it and saying he is fine so as not to worry her. But long story short, it just isn't working.

I sigh to myself and rub my forehead with my right hand in frustration. I just have a really bad feeling about this whole thing and think that I will be seeing that snake again in the near future. I just hope what he said doesn't come true.

Flashback

He chuckles once more. "You, human or not will turn out just like Sasuke here. You will come to me for power whether you like it or not." He says and his neck suddenly extends towards Sasuke who has no time to move, time seems to slow as Orochimaru sinks his teeth into Sasuke's neck and both me and Arisu shout Sasuke's name.

End flashback

I can't help but feel that he will try to do the same thing to me as he did to Sasuke. I sigh again and bring my hand down to my side and decide to pay attention to what is going on now at the front of the line. This happens to be the Hokage addressing us all.

He addresses us and congratulates us on passing the second stage with all those trimmings that leaders like to say when giving a speech. I wish he would hurry up and get to the point already! Luck must be with me because he soon does and explains how there are a record number of people who have passed and got to the third stage. Then he drops the bomb shell: that we will have to fight one on one for a place in the final third stage just because there are to may of us.

Needless to say, this doesn't go down well and the hall erupts in chatter as people moan and complain about having to fight so soon after our stay in the forest of death. Anko makes a loud whistle that has many covering there ears to get everyone's attention. That woman will pay for that one, if I ever get a chance to wallop her one I will gladly take it. THAT BLOODY WELL HURT MY EARS!! Sometimes I hate having wolf senses when I didn't even want them in the first place, and I swear I think William is trying to turn me into his little mini-me .

Once the Hokage has quiet once again he introduces our new proctor for the third exam and a sickly looking man with brown hair and skin so pale it looks green steps forward. I'm so busy trying to figure out how he can physically be that pale and not be dead or near death that I even miss his name. But my attention is taken off the sickly man when a panel of the wall behind wear the jonin sensei's and the Hokage are standing.

It then starts to rapidly flick through names at random and I gather that this will decide who we will be fighting in these preliminaries. After a moment is stops and the names left on the screen are of some ninja I don't know and Sasuke Uchiha. The whole team looks at our chicken but in worry and he smiles obviously ready to get this over with.

So then the proctor tells all but the two competitors to leave the arena and go onto the viewing platforms with their sensei's. The platforms are basically two iron balconies, one on ether side of the arena that are attached to an iron staircase. That should give us a good view of the fight about to take place on the arena floor and I can't wait to see what Sasuke can do, and if that curse mark of his will make an appearance again or if it will stay down. Though I predict the former. I just hope Sasuke will be able to handle it this time and won't get carried away with it.

So we all make our way up onto the platforms and stand in our squads, ready to watch the imminent battle. Meanwhile down on the ground Sasuke is standing facing a leaf genin with a mask covering the bottom of his face and sunglasses hiding his eyes. Sasuke looks confident, but from what I can read off his opponents face, so is that weird leaf ninja.

The proctor steps forward with a sickly cough. "Ready? And begin!" he crocks in a loud voice after both competitors nod to signal they are ready. Now the battle has begun I can't wait to see what Sasuke can do. Maybe he has learnt some new cool fire jutsu I could modify or maybe has a new weapons method to use with his shuriken. But now I sound like a fan girl, but I'm not! I just respect good ninja techniques and jutsus when I see them. I wonder what the other guy has in store for him to, I wonder.

But just as the match has started I suddenly arrive in a large clearing with a single willow tree at its centre, and lying in its shade is none other then my captive demon and constant annoyance, William. He is done for this time.

As I walk towards the long branches of the tree that kiss the ground with their lime green leaves I decide to take in the scene before me. It must be my mindscape, like when I go visit Kyuubi in Naruto's mind and he is in a sewer-like cage. Or like when I have spoken to Shukaku in Gaara's mind and his is a large cave with rock bars that you enter through a long drop into a pit. But in my case it is a large clearing in the centre of a forest and Williams cage is behind the leaves of the willow tree that must act like the rock bars in Shukaku's cage.

A light breeze blows and turns the grass into a pool of rippling green stones as the dew on the glass sparkles in the light coming from a full moon that hovers up high in the sky above the giant willow tree. The tree itself is the largest I've ever seen, its branches seem to almost brush the very surface of the moon above and the trunk is so incredibly thick that it seems to be the same thickness or even thicker then that of three normal oak trees. Its branches seem to dangle out of thin air from their origin from the willow's main branches high up into the moonlit sky.

With every step closer to its branches I feel the grass tickle the bottoms of my trousers and I stop but a few inches from the leaves and notice that all have a seal on them similar to the one on my arm that I have but the star in the middle has nine points on it not five. I will have to ask William about that after I'm through verbally lashing him into a puddle of demonic jelly, but for now its time to show him just what happens to those who take me away from a good fight, especially a fight my teammate just happens to be participating in.

Glare firmly set on my face and eyes shooting daggers I let out a low growl which makes the wolf beneath the tree look up at me and a shiver a fear to literally go up his spine as I watch all the hairs covering his coat stand on end.

He looks the same as he always does, although now a frightened version of himself but apart from that the same. His fur is whiter then the purest snow and I know is I was to reach out and touch it, it would be softer then the finest silk.

His eyes on the other hand are sharp and piercing with yellow coloured irises that seem to glow with a demonic light that are only made more fearsome by the small slits that make up his pupils that stand in a sea of that yellow glow never once changing, like they are trapped in their one place never to have the freedom to move.

He sits with his nine tales tucked neatly round his front to the other side of his body, all the tales coming the same way making his look almost royal and god-like. But he is no god, just the head of the wolf demon clan and with nine tales to boot, so he is as close to a physical god as any being is going to get. His size is something I am now used to but at first it was hard to fall asleep and wake up with a wolf demon larger then a house staring you in the face. That again gives another description of how large the willow tree must be to contain him, I almost feel sorry for him being trapped in there. Almost.

"William," I seethe and he goes ridged at my words. "Why have you brought me here when you know full well Sasuke is in the middle of a fight and that I will just be standing their in a daze while he fights?" I ask.

"Well, I-" He gets out but I soon cut him off.

"That is sure to have people staring at me thinking I'm a freak and some people with first hand experience with demons might put to and to together, blowing my secret that I have you sealed in me!" I finish with a shout causing William to jump a bit before regaining some of his composure to answer me. He better have a damned good excuse for this.

"Ok, ok! Calm down pup and give me a fair trial before my execution!" he says in a high tone and I calm a bit but I still keep my glair on full blast to show I'm still mad at him. "Thanks. Well I wanted to prepare you for your up and coming fight. That and you already know the outcome don't you?" he finishes with a knowing smirk and I look to the side having been caught out in my confidence of who the victor will be. Damn him.

"But that still gives you know right to stop me from watching how everything plays out!" I shout back, turning to face him once more. "And what do I need to be so prepared for anyway? Do you know who I'm fighting somehow?!" I ask with my glair softening a bit because of my excitement of William may be able to tell me who I will be fighting.

"No I don't know who your opponent will be sorry pup. But I do want to take this time to train you up some more in case you get a strong opponent like say, Shukaku's container perhaps." He states matter of factly but with a small knowing grin tickling the corners of his lips. I blink but then brake into a large smirk at the idea of being able to put that stuck up, sand wilding jerk in his place.

"I don't need any help to take care of him." I snarl out as thoughts of how I could beat him in front of everyone flash across my thoughts. But that is soon interrupted by a certain wolf demon who is laughing loudly while rolling round on the grass, paws holding his sides in pain from how hard he is laughing at some unknown joke I just cracked. His tails flail about everywhere and I glair at the best before me in annoyance, I really don't see what's so damn funny.

"Hey!" i shout with my hands on my hips. "What's so funny?" I ask and William seems to listen to me for once ad calms down until only small chuckles escape his jaws.

"You pup!" he says and I stare at him in confusion. He lets out one last chuckle before carrying on with his answer. "Pup I'm sorry but you just remind me so much of a friend of mine when he first met this young vixen." He finishes and I freeze.

"This friend of yours. He wouldn't happen to be the nine-tailed fox, Kyuubi no Kitsune right." I ask curiously hoping he will say know. But hope and I don't seem to be very good friends today.

"As a matter of fact, yes it was. How did you know?" William asked suspiciously and I quickly blurted out an explanation before I could even stop myself, I really am becoming way to good at lying to people. That is really going to bite me in the but some day.

"Well there is only one fox demon I know of and that's Kyuubi no Kitsune. That and I don't think you would be friends with normal foxes." I say with a smirk and he nods, content with my answer for now.

"Yup and I was the one who introduced them and let me tell you they were at each other's throats from the very get go." He starts as he goes into the story behind his laughing fit. This also seems like a good chance for me to learn more about Kyuubi. "I had met her on one of my travels around the human world during which time she was disguising herself as a human women. I saw through it and decided to ask her why she was hiding, though with no human in ear-shot of course.

She told me her name was Valery and that she was travelling round to escape the trap that males seem to set at that time of year, it was mating season after all. I than told her about how I had a friend who was doing the same thing and how I was going to visit him.

She asked if she could come with me and I said yes. On the way she asked all sorts of questions about him and even when I told her he was a fox demon she still wanted to meet him. So when I got there I introduced the two and Kyuubi was a snob as usually and she shot insults back which caused a fight and from then on the two were always trying to be stronger then the other.

I stayed to make sure no one died and soon enough I started to notice that their fights were becoming more, how can I put it, physical then anything else. Then one day when the two were locked in combat for the millionth time it seemed, out of know where Kyuubi just kisses her. To put it short I fell out the tree in shock but what surprised me even more was she was soon kissing back and then there was a full blown make-out session in progress.

Once I recovered enough to stand I left fast because by the smell of it, those two were going to go all the way. The next day I saw them together and announced that the two were officially mates. I was shocked to say the least, but happy for the both of them.

An so when I saw your face it reminded me of those two when they used to fight and the image of you and Shukaku's container trying to glair each other to death like they used to do just popped into my head." He finishes with a chuckle and I frown in thought.

If Kyuubi has a mate, why would he not tell me about it? I know William has never had a mate, or a girlfriend for that matter so why would Kyuubi hide that from me. I decide to ask about where Valery is now and what ever happened to her. Maybe that will give me a reason for why that fox hasn't told me about her.

"So what ever happened to Valery?" I ask and suddenly William's whole mood darkens. He looks to the side trying to hide his eyes from me but I can see the sadness in them. Maybe I should never have asked him about it.

"She died." He stated simply and I freeze in shock. She's dead, no wonder Kyuubi wouldn't have said anything to me about her, I bet the memories of her are just too painful for him to go through.

"She died in his place." William continues and I look up at him in shock as he continues with his tale. "We were young and stupid back then. Apparently some humans had caught wind of us and were determined to kick us off the face of this planet. They targeted Kyuubi because he was the strongest of the three of us and the one who posed the most of a threat. So they set a trap, and we fell right into it.

One night we were out walking towards the next town. We left because the humans had started to act strangely towards us and we decided it was time to move on. We took an old deer trail through the woods as a short cut to the next town so that we would get there before dawn. Then as we walked past a large waterfall the trap was sprung.

Arrows infused with chakra and coated with poison shot towards us and we only just managed to dodge them in time, well almost all of us. One of the arrows had imbedded itself in Kyu's arm and he fell to the ground in pain. I was real mad and told Valery to take care of him while I took care of the human that attacked us. She nodded to me and I ran off in search of the attackers.

I found and killed them all. They were well prepared and they were ninja hired from a nearby village to kill us so they would no how to hide their presence and they used the waterfall to do this so that we wouldn't pick up their scent.

When I got back I found Kyuubi holding a pale Valery in his arms, tears running down his face. That is the only time in my entire life I have ever seen him cry. He told me that when death had come for him she had managed to make a trade for his life, her soul instead of his. I was deeply saddened because not only had I lost a dear friend of mine, but my best friend had lost a part of him he could never get back.

We cremated her there and then scattered her ashes to the winds. It was the funeral she would have wanted, quiet, neat, clean and with no fuss. After that we continued to travel but after a few years we decided to go home to our clans and that was the last I ever saw of my friend. He was sad the years after her death, but when we parted ways he promised me that he would cheer up and start to enjoy life again to which he cheered up and even chuckled a bit. He said he promised to do that and the last image I have of him is his foxy grin as he waves goodbye."

William finishes and a sad smile finds its way to my lips. It seems that Kyuubi kept his promise to William, because whenever I see him he's never sad but always happy to see me. I look up at William and smile brightly at him, let's see if I can cheer him up.

"Well I'm sure he is keeping his promise after all he did promise you, his best friend right?!" I say and he smiles back at me. "So what's this training going to be about then?" I ask.

"Well, it was going to be teaching you some more earth element but it seems your doing fine on that by yourself." He says beaming and stands. Then before my eyes he does something that makes my jaw drop off my face, figuratively speaking of course.

He surrounds himself in a white chakra and then there is a small flash that makes me blink. An in Williams place is a man. He is tall, well built and would have to be one of the best looking I have ever seen! He looks to be in his early twenties, with pale skin and clothed in white ninja shorts, sandals and a tight fitting white shirt that shows off the muscles of his chest. His white hair is just brushing his shoulders with its spikes that stick up in odd directions and his fringe has two single white bangs that shape his angelic face.

But I can also tell who this percent is straight away. With the same demonic yellow eyes with slit pupils and nine swaying white tales flowing out behind him with a pair of wolf ears sticking from the top of his head. But the biggest thing that gives him away is that cocky grin that spreads across his face showing sharpened white canines and how his arms are folded across his chest with his sharpened nails resting on the skin of his forearm. There is only certainty in my mind that the man, wolf, person in front of me is William.

"WHAT THE HELL! HOW ON EARTH COULD YOU NOT GET A GIRLFRIEND WHEN YOU LOOK LIKE THAT?!" I shout and he smirks at my reaction.

"I never said I couldn't get a girlfriend or a mate. I said I never had any interest in any wolves and so never had a mate, it doesn't mean I couldn't get one if I wanted to." He explains and I calm myself down a bit.

"So what up with you looking like this? Is it because you just want to show off?" I ask and his smirk turns into a grin as he shakes his head.

"Well I do like to show off some times and the look on your face was sure worth it. But I have another reason for being in this form. This is my human form and as you can see, it's not that good so in human land I would place a genjutsu over this to hide my ears and tails." He explains and I nod in understanding before he continues.

"Moving on. In battle I had noticed that your taijutsu is, how should I put it? Lacking, that's the word! Its lacking compared to your other skills, that and you don't seem to be conferrable in the style that you have learned. So, I will teach you the wolf demon clan's taijutsu style and you will master it before your match. In that match I want you to test it on your opponent and see the reactions of the adults and Shukaku's container." He explains and my eyes widen in excitement. I literally start jumping up and down, punching my fist in the air shouting "yes, yes, yes!" to myself. But William soon brings me back by coughing at me and I stop jumping and smile at him sheepishly.

"Right, so let's begin shall we." William says and I nod as he falls into the wolf demon clan's taijutsu stance and I start to learn how to use it myself. I just hope I'm not killed while I'm training.

After a long training session and a new taijutsu style later I suddenly felt searing pain shoot through me and collapsed to me knees clutching my head in pain. I feel the world spin and I shut my eyes to try and block it out. As the pain begins to subside I hear a buzz of voices and open my eyes to be standing, not on my knees, my hands by my sides and a clay spider on my face.

Wait, clay spider.

"AHHH!!" I scream and dive to the floor as a explosion erupts in the place where my head once was. That was uncalled for.

I stand and look towards a certain blond clay spider maker with killing intent. Our eyes lock and she slowly backs away, fear in her eyes as they widen. I take a step towards he and she turns to run, but I'll be damned if she was going to get away with almost blowing my face off. As my other foot stepped forward I pumped chakra into the soul of it causing me to leap forward after the terrified girl.

I landed on my mark, right on top of her and she fell to the ground with a piercing scream. I then grab her head and place it under my arm in a tough head lock while my feet remove themselves from her back, coming up to stand by her side and she stiffens in horror at her current predicament.

Then there is a shout from below, sounded like that proctor and I look up to see the screen lit up with three names: 'Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka vs. Arisu Iwagakure.'

"What the hell..." I think sarcastically and look down at Arisu that is now turning a rather dark shade of blue from lack of oxygen and is clawing at my arm round her neck frantically. I give her one last glare at her swelled-up face before I released her head and stepped back as she fell to the floor, gasping for air and holding her throat as she tried to suck all the oxygen out the room.

"Ok, maybe I deserved that." She says as she pulls herself to her feet and looks at me with a reddish face from her encounter with near oxygen depletion. I crossed my arms and raised my eyebrow at her while she looked at me pleading with me to spare her. "Can you kill me after I win my fight please?!" she begged and I let out a large sigh.

"Listen, if you don't ever touch me when I space out like that again I won't kill you." I say and she latches onto my arm, tears of joy flowing down her face as she shouts her thanks into my ear. "But," I continue and she stops her screams to look up at me with a questioning gaze. "If you ever put a spider bomb anywhere near my face again, you will lose far more than just your life. Am I clear?"

Releasing me with a fearful look she nods and I smile at her closing my eyes. I open them and she smiles back before walking off down the metal stairs onto the arena where Ino and Sakura are already down there waiting for her, with scared and confused looks on their faces. I move to stand next to Naruto who gives me a questioning look but does not say anything about my spacing out, nor the little incident with Arisu.

We both turn to the battle about to start below us and as usual from what I've seen and from what Naruto has told me, Sakura and Ino start to bicker. The proctor gave out a small sigh followed by a sickly cough before he gave the word and the match began. I watched half of me actually watching and the other going over the wolf demon taijutsu stances through my head. I asked William for the styles actual name he said it is called 'demonic moon' which I have to say I really liked the sound of.

Back on the floor Sakura and Ino exchanged blows with each other while Arisu watched in boredom. Then it seems the clay bomber has an idea and runs through a set of hand seals before biting her thumb and slamming her hand on the ground that gives out a puff of smoke. When it clears sitting upright looking up at its summoner with bright blue eyes is a little white tiger cub. Arisu then proceeds to sit on the floor with her legs crossed and play with the cute little thing. Everyone gives her weird looks while me and Naruto just look on, we know this fight was over before it started. In the end we both knew who would come out the winner no matter what the other two fighters did.

This continues for another five minutes, with Ino having cut off her hair and captured Sakura in a mind jutsu that the pink haired girl breaks out of, probably due to Ino not being able to control all that big forehead of hers. Both are tired and looks as if they are about to collapse while Arisu seems quite content with playing with the small cub she has summoned.

I see the proctor come over to her and see him talk to her, probably telling her to actually partake in the fight. She sighs and stands holding the cub in her arms as it snuggles into her chest contently. She hold the cub in one arm and uses the other to reach into her pouch, bringing out some clay before letting her hands on her palms get to work. After a few seconds her hand opens to reveal a small clay spider and as Sakura and Ino lunge at each other for one finishing blow, she throws it.

BOOM! The bomb explodes as the two girls collide.

"Winner is Arisu." The proctor says and Arisu skips up the stairs smiling with the cub still in her arms while Kakashi and Asumi (Ino's team Jonin) pick up the two girls and place them up against the wall back on the viewing platform.

Arisu comes up to me smiling and I return her smile with my own as I scratch the cub behind its ears and it purrs at the affection. Then the screen spins with names and I feel my breathe catch in my throat as the two competitors name's appear on the screen. 'Rock Lee vs. Gaara'

I notice Naruto look at me as I clench my fists, digging my nails into my palms and grind my teeth against each other as I try to control my anger. This isn't fair, I'm the one that sand wilding twit is supposed to fight not Lee. That and now Lee might get seriously hurt by that red headed jerk. I don't want that. Lee is an alright guy and doesn't deserve what he's about to get. But what can I do, I could never deny the boy of his fight.

I look over to see his eyes sparkling as he punches his fist in the air in excitement and voices his happiness and I find myself unable to say anything. As much as I don't want Lee to get hurt, I don't want to stop him from doing what he wants to do or what he feels is right. He then jumps over the rail and lands on the floor below and I silently wish that he is lucky and lives through this fight.

I then glance over towards his opponent, and he looks pissed. His fists are clenched as they rest on his crossed arms to stop them from shaking and his gore line is tense as he grits his teeth in anger. His eyes are slit into a glare directed at the green beast of the leaf village. Now I really fear for Lee's very life as he disappears and reaper on the arena floor in a swirl of sand.

The proctor looks at both competitors and nods. "Let the match begin!" he declares followed by a sickly cough. An so the match begins and I grip the railings of the viewing platform making my knuckles go white. I just hope that they both come out of this alive. Lee because he is a nice guy and doesn't deserve to die by the hands of such a person. Gaara, because I will be the one to kick his ass form here to hell and back, and I'll be damned if anyone gets in my way from doing that!

The battle was intense, with Gaara's sand up against Lee's taijutsu. The match was close from the start that is until Lee unlocked some of the chakra gates, increasing his power immensely. But then Gaara kicked up a notch of his own, sending Lee to the ground injuring them both, but Lee was knocked out while Gaara stayed conscious. But now Lee is getting up and I can feel that Gaara is about to end Lee's life!

"Guy! Get in there now!" I shout and the man who is like an adult version of Lee down to the very clothes they wear.

He looks from me to the arena and his eyes widen as he jumps down to his pupil, kneeling down by Lee's side, checking if he is seriously hurt. But the sand is still coming and I move without hesitation. I hear Arisu, Naruto, Kakashi and the rest of the rookie nine's voices call for me to stop. But it's too late for that. I hit the ground right in between the two competitors and spread my arms round, turning to face the sand ninja.

The sand stops dead as the two of us lock eyes with each other. I look at him and dare him with my eyes to use his sand as he stares back at me in shock and confusion. The sand retreats and comes up under him and lifts him to his feet before retreating back into the gourd on his back. He stands facing me and the temperature in the room drops about ten degrease while the air becomes so thick you could slice it with a kunai.

My challenge turns to anger as I slit my eyes into a glare and clench my fists, while he does the same only with crossed arms unlike mine which are now by my sides. If it were possible I'm sure electricity would fly between us.

"Why did you stop me?" he growls through his clenched teeth. I let a smirk spread across my face.

"Because he is a friend of mine." I said with venom as I continued. "And I refuse to let you kill him because you want to win that bad. You had already won already, he's unconscious after all." I finish gesturing towards Lee who is being lead away on a stretcher.

"Well, good luck. You have a match to win after all, then I'm coming for you in the next round." He says, his own smirk gracing his lips and I feel my stomach do a back flip, but just ignore it as due to lack of food.

Damn him and his scent to hell. He is standing only a meter away from me and that scent is messing with my head, making my anger slip and right now I want to be angry at him. He almost killed Lee for crying out loud! So come on Nicola! Just ignore that scent of his and pull yourself together!

"Wouldn't have it any other way." I finish with my own smirk and we both disappear and reappear on our separate viewing platforms, him in a swirl of sand and me in a swirl of mist.

Once back I slam my fist into the wall while I bore holes through the platform's floor, imagining it melting from my gaze causing a large hole to form in front of where I'm standing. As for the poor wall, I pull my fist off it and feel most of the plaster come off with my fist. I glance at the wall out of the corner of my eye and see a fist sized hole in the wall.

I striated up, closing my eyes and take a calming breath. Ignoring the wolf in the back of my head who is finding the whole thing hilarious since he was looking through my eyes and ears while me and Gaara had our little converse. I'm just glad that he can't feel what I do or read my mind, because if he did he would know exactly what I felt when I spoke to him. I really don't understand why I'm feeling this way because I really hated him at that moment, but then one smirk and my stomachs doing flip flops!

I let my breathe out and open my eyes, relaxing my tense muscles. I look round and see everyone is staring at me like I should be locked up. I just shrug at them with a sheepish smile and walk up to the railing, leaning my crossed arms on them as I look up at the screen which is flashing the remaining names with little interest. That is before it stopped and I let out a tired sigh, seriously I may as well have just stayed on the floor.

I then jump over the railings, landing on my feet as I watch my opponent come down from the opposite platform and stand before me. The screen reads: 'Kabuto vs. Nicola Kaze'

The gray haired ninja looks at me with a confident smirk on his face and I just look back with a bored demeanour about me. I was at least hoping for a challenge, but now I won't even be able to use my new taijutsu style on him. Owe well, I will just have to wait until the next round for that, and then I can use it against Gaara who I catch looking at my opponent with a snarl on his face.

A small smile tickles my mouth at that before I shake my head, thus shaking that smile from my face. There is no way I am doing this just to get Gaara jealous of not being my opponent. Now that I think about it, that must have been what I felt when he fought Lee, I was jealous that I wasn't the one fighting him and Lee was. What the hell is happening to me!

"Both of you ready?" the proctor asks and we both nod. "Then begin!" he shouts out in a hoarse voice.

Kabuto immediately comes at me with an open palmed strike which I dodge with ease. As he goes past me I notice that his hand is pumped with chakra and as I look closely at it I see it has a slight green tinge to it. That must be the medic chakra I've heard about it, it's the type of chakra medic nins use to heal ninjas who have been injured on missions. I better avoid his hands, but it still doesn't mean that I won't beat him easily.

He lunges at me again with the same technique and as I dodge an idea forms in my mind causing a smirk to spread across my face. Its time for some conversation to get underway.

"Nice technique you got there." I say and he sands facing me as a smirk grows on his face.

"Thanks and your quite quick for a rookie." He says back and I smile at him.

"Thanks!" I say and glance to see Gaara almost breaking the railings as he grips them in anger. My smile grows as I bring my attention back to Kabuto. "But you know, I don't think I quite like your hands." I say and he gives me a confused look.

Then I run at him at top speed and grasp his left arm with my left hand as I pass. I place my right on his shoulder at the same time and pull his arm out his socket. The momentum of my run then tears the muscles in his arm and rips his flesh. In a moment its over and blood sprays from his arm followed by a bloodcurdling scream. I stop a meter from him, keeping my back to him and lift up his arm to observe it.

"Well," I say in disappointed voice. "That takes care of your jutsu in that arm but I'm sure you can use it in the other arm now can't you." I finish with a smirk and he stops. I turn and see him staring at me, holding his arm with his eyes almost popping out his head.

I cock my head to the side and walk towards him at a normal pace while he backs away from me, screaming for me not to do it. That is until he hits the wall at the side of the arena under the viewing platform where the rookie nine and team guy are now leaning over to see what happens. My smirk grows as I watch him sink to the floor in fear, no longer able to scream.

I toss his left arm over my shoulder lazily and bend down to his right side, placing my right hand on his shoulder. I then give him a reassuring smile; this match will all be over with this final blow.

"It's alright." I say in a soothing voice and I see his eyes fix on me with a scared look. "It will all be over soon." I finish and place my left arm on his. Then with one sharp tough, his arm comes loose and I let it fly across the arena to land next to its other half near the front of the arena where the Hokage is standing with some other jonin I don't know.

Blood sprays over my face and coats my right arm as his scream fills my ears once again. But it soon dies as he looses consciousness and I stand as medic nin run to his side. Another medic runs to grab his arms as the armless boy is taken away on a stretcher for surgery.

"Winner: Nicola Kaze." The proctor chokes out and I smile at him as I walk up the steps to the top of the platform.

I glance over at a shocked Gaara who stands ridged as his eyes remain on me as I climb the stares back to my teammates. I feel a shiver go up my spine as he relaxes into his usual posture with his arms crossed lazily over his chest only he throws a smirk my way causing me to look away and try to control the sudden heat that courses to my cheeks. Luckily no one sees it because of the blood that already stains my cheeks crimson. I reach the top and smile at my teammates as they look at me with confused, but happy smiles.

"Well that was one hell of a show!" Naruto says as he throws me a foxy grin which I smile at as Arisu nods and the tension in the air fades away like it never was there to begin with.

"You were awesome!" Arisu says beaming at me. "Go Nikora, go Nikora Go Nikora!" she chants until a kunai flies past her head imbedded itself in the wall behind her and a section of her blond hair floats to the ground.

"Go Nicola! Go Nicola! Go Nicola!" she says continuing our chant with a nervous laugh and I move to retrieve my kunai from the wall.

About a year ago we researched what our names meant and then we got the idea to see what my name would be in Japanese which turned out to be Nikora. She teased me about it for a whole month until I had enough and told her straight that if she ever called me that I would slit her throat. To put it shortly she stopped, only using it to annoy me.

I sigh placing my kunai back in my weapons pouch and I look at her while she laughs nervously. I shake my head a small smile on my lips as I make my point clear. "Do that again Ri, and you wont have that voice box of yours anymore." With this she nods with a scared look on her face and I giggle at her which calms her back down.

"As long as you go clean yourself up you got a deal and no I wont shake on it." She jokes and I look down at my bloodstained clothes and at the blood that is starting to clot into my hair.

"I don't look that bad do I?" I as turning my head from side to side, trying to see if my back is coated with the stuff.

"YES!!" I hear the whole of the rookie nine and team Guy shout at me and I cover my ears at their volume. Some people are way too loud.

"Ok ok I get it. I'll go get cleaned up." I say but stop as I turn and reach into my jacket hood and tear away Daniel from its blood soaked fabric. "But he says hear, I'm not having he get drunk again. Trust me it's not a pretty picture." I finish throwing him into Naruto's arm. Naruto catches him followed by a current of curses and name calling from my little friend's mouth while I just ignore it and walk down the platform and out a door at the far end of it.

Now to find a bathroom. I walk down a long corridor and finally find a door with a female sign on it. I push the door open and step in letting it close behind me. The bathroom is large with five cubicles on each of four rows of toilets and a whole wall taken up by sinks. Then the wall to the farthest side is taken up by shower cubicles that even have locks on them.

I walk up to the sinks and observe my reflection in the mirror. I look paler then usual with dried blood that's cracked and peeling from my skin stuck in a large splatter from the left side of my chin, across both cheeks and covering my entire nose, all the way up to the top of the right hand side of my forehead where the blood has clotted into my fringe.

My clothes haven't faired any better. My right arm and shoulder have turned a sickly brown colour from the blood that's soaked into the entire arm of my jacket. The front is scattered with patches of the same brown coloured stain and the fronts of my trousers are also scattered with the stuff. My boots that I have been wearing since I got hear squelch when I take a step and I lift up to look at the bottoms that are soggy with blood. It all rushes through the treads on the bottom to slowly drip from the toe of my boot.

I put my foot down and look down at my hands that are covered in cracked blood and as I clench and unclench my fist some of it flakes off to land in the puddle of blood forming from my shoes. I look at the boot marks I left behind me as I walked in and smile at the shoe shaped blood marks on the floor leading up the where I'm standing.

With a sigh I make my way over to the showers and step inside one of the cubicles. It's large with a dressing and undressing section that comes with a stool and three hooks along with a towel rack that is stacked with a large white fluffy towel. I open the shower door and find it stocked with two choices of shampoo and shower gel with some soap to boot.

I quickly undress placing my bag, which I always carry on my back where ever I go on the stool and open it to check my spare change of clothes. Everything accounted for I place the bloody fabrics in a black bag to be thrown out when I get home apart from my jacket which I hang on one of the hooks to be cleaned after I come out from my shower.

I then step in and turn the water on. I then scrub at my skin turning the water red as all the blood, dirt and sweet from the exam is washed away down the drain. I then proceed to wash my hair three times with the shampoo to make sure all of the blood is out of it before I turn the shower off and step out into the changing part of the cubicle. I rap the large towel around my body and close my eyes gathering my chakra just under my skin. When I feel there is enough I release it in a short sharp burst of heat that evaporates all the water on my body into steam, drying me instantly.

Once dry I dress in all but my boots which will also have to be cleaned, gather my things and proceed to step out of the showers and walk over to the sink. I deal with my jacket first, filling one sink with steaming hot water and drowning the piece of clothing in it, then leaving it to soak while I tend to my boots. I rinse the bottoms in water and then dry them then repeat the process a few more times until they are completely clean.

My boots are black in colour and come up half way up my calves when I have them on. They are leather and so very durable and touch so that I can practically do anything in them. There also quite light now that I'm used to them and are fastened by a zip on the insides of each boot with a clip at the top of each zip. I used to wear these to school all the time because I don't like dolly shoes and I wasn't going to go round wearing granny shoes, so boots were my best option and one that I actually liked.

I jump up onto the counter, slip on some socks followed by my boots. I then hop of the side and go to see how my jacket is doing. I lift it out the now crimson water and examine it. It seems all that soaking did the trick because not all those nasty brown stains are gone and the jacket is back to its beautiful self, although a bit soggy. I smile and start to pump a small amount of chakra into the fabric which hisses as the water slowly evaporates out of the jacket.

One fully dry I stop the flow of chakra into the jacket and slip it on before looking at myself in the mirror as I brush my hair then tie it back up in its usual pony tail with my bangs hanging down to frame ether side of my face. I see that I now look like I always do and put my brush back into my bag, doing the bag up before swinging it onto my back, finally ready to get back to watching the matches taking place back in the arena.

I take my leave closing the door behind me and sigh as a now very familiar scent greats me as I step out the door.

"What do you want?" I ask looking to my left at the sand ninja who is leaning against the opposite wall lazily with his arms crossed across his chest. His eyes look to meat mine and he leans off the wall and walks up so that he is standing next to me, but not close enough for me to reach him or him to reach me, but it doesn't help my nose that is swamped with that scent of his, though I don't show it.

"I want to know," he starts and looks at me questioningly. "What would make someone like you become that bloodthirsty?" He finishes and I frown.

"I could ask the same of you if I didn't already know." I shoot back, my dream of his childhood flashing through my mind and I see his eyes harden into a glare.

"How could you know such a thing?" he asks with a growl and I sigh.

"Forget it." I say and look to the side down the hall where the door is waiting for me to re-enter the arena.

"Fine but I still want you to answer my question." He says as he blocks the hall and instead of the door, I find myself staring at his chest. I look up back into his eyes, only just now realising how weird it must be for a little thing like me to be standing up to him when he is even taller then Shino who is by far the tallest out of all the rookie nine and team Guy.

"Why do you even care?" I say now getting mad that this guy who apparently wants to fight me and most likely kill me would mock me with such a personal question. He just shrugs at me which makes me snap.

"You want to kill me don't you?!" I shout up at him, the pain in my voice bouncing off the walls of the corridor with every word I scream at him. "So why the bloody hell would you even care about me?! What would you are about my life and what that has made me?!"

His eyes widen at my reaction and he seems genuinely shocked at my words. My fists clench and shake as I try and hold back from lashing out at him. His eyes loose the shock and turn sad as he looks down at me with those damned eyes of his that makes me feel like latching onto him like some damned damsel in distress. But lets be realistic here, that is never going to happen.

"I don't know." He says and I am about to shout at him again when he raises his top hand off his crossed arms and brings it in front of my face to let him finish which I reluctantly let him do. "Listen I am just as confused by this as you are. But I really would like to know. Anyway, my desire to kill you is practically none existent."

I freeze and look up at him in shock at his last words. Did I just hear him say he doesn't want to kill me anymore? A smirk spreads across his face as he looks down at my shocked expression. I open and close my mouth a few times but find no words to say how confused and shocked I am, this guy has managed to leave me speechless. Now that's something because usually I can always think of a comeback, no matter how small.

"You really should see your face." He chuckles and I find the sound resonating through my body and my heart speeds up for some reason. "Anyway you said it yourself didn't you?" he says and I frown at him as he continues to smirk at me.

"That everyone needs a good rival. So I don't see the point in killing you." He says and my frown deepens.

"I didn't say that." I say in a confused tone.

"But that's how you came off about the whole situation." He states and I grunt at him in response. I didn't realise how easy I am to read. "So will you tell me or not?" he asks and my sad tone returns, whipping the smirk off his face as he frowns down at me while I look down off to the side. Not daring to meet his eyes.

"Well before I became a ninja I lived a long way away from here and had always had problems with my family." I start and he looks at me in curiosity. "But my life changed in the few days before I came here with Arisu," I continue and as I tell my story I think back and remember how all that has happened to me came about.

Flashback

A sunny Thursday afternoon, the sun shining brightly up in the sky as I walk home with my little brother Shawn beside me. I look down at him and watch as he keeps his head to the floor and a glare plastered across his face. This is always how our walk home from school is.

After my school ends, I go pick him up from primary school and he keeps his head down and glares at the floor all the way home. I don't know why but he always does. I frown and let out a sigh as we walk along our road towards our house.

"So Shawn, what did you do at school today?" I ask him, trying to lighten the always treacherous mood that hangs round us when we walk home.

"Hacked the mainframe." He states flatly and I shake my head. My brother is in year six and way to smart for his own good, an Instinet in the making. But he doesn't use his brain for anything but computers and my parents don't help the situation. That's where he gets it from.

"You really should stop doing things like that Shawn, its naughty." I say in a disappointed tone and he just shrugs.

Silence consumes us again as our house comes into view. My parents are always home when we get back, but don't pick us up from school. Our mom says it's good for kids to find there own way home, builds character. What a load of crap! The only one who needs character is her and my dad! And maybe Shawn since he's followed their example.

I get to the front door and unlock it. Shawn pushes me out the way and sprints up the stairs into his room where I hear his door slam shut. I let out another sigh and step inside, closing the door behind me.

"We're home!" I shout up the stairs where I'm met only by the sound of keyboards and mousses clicking.

I let out another sigh as I make my way up the stairs so that I can change out of my school uniform. Once at the top I glance into my parent's bedroom to find them with their faces glued to their own personal computer screens as usual. I then poke my head round my brother's bedroom door and see him in a similar state at his own computer as usual.

Another sigh escapes me as I enter my small room, placing my bag on my bed and changing into jeans, a t-shirt and some trainers. My room is the box room of the house, even Shawn's is bigger then mine because he's the 'gifted son' so he needs the bigger room. That's also a load of crap since he only uses it as a place to play on his computer, just like my parents do.

I walk out of my room and down stairs where I walk through the kitchen into a side passage where it leads to the back garden. I step out onto the grass and yet another sigh escapes my lips in frustration. I walk over to the lone ball sitting by the back fence and pick it up with my hands gently and just stare at it in thought.

I wonder why my parents act like this. Why they never move from their online world and don't come into reality to see me for a change. Whenever Arisu comes round they at least talk to her, but never me. They even took her to the zoo that one time when she almost fell in with the crocks, but they didn't care when the keepers actually had to get me out because I had fallen in which was why Arisu was leaning over the railings in the first place. But did they care: no.

They never talk to me, acknowledge me. They don't even care that I exist. You see when I was five and Shawn was just a baby my dad's parents died and he got mega inheritance. So he stopped going to work and brought every one of us computers, apart from little Shawn, he was to little back then. That's when it started; they became absorbed in the computer world.

I took care of Shawn and never touched my computer. But Shawn grew up and because of how he saw our parents acting, he copied and soon my computer became his. He moved into my room and when I had enough of sharing, I had to have his old room. My mom now works part time to make sure we have enough money to keep her online life going. She works at a fabric company in the morning, but comes home at 1 o'clock with the days shopping which she puts in her and dad's room for them to eat through out their time in there which is always.

That's right, I live in a family of computer addicts.

Now my brother has become one, though he still speaks to me at least a little. I have to make him go to school so that social services won't be on our back. No matter how I hate my life, I could never take away there's, no matter how worthless their lives might be.

My brother's teachers ask me how he is and I have to say that all is fine at home, when its not. They ask why my parents can't make it to a meeting with them and I have to say they are at a big meeting, when there not. I have to lie to those outside my house all the time and I'm sick of it!

The more I think about it all the madder I get and when I finally look up from the ball I notice the antenna on top of the house. The antenna that links my family with the online world. The cause of all my problems.

I growl and throw my arm back with the ball in hand and swing it towards the antenna as hard as I can, letting out a growl of anger as it leaves my hands. It flies towards the horrid thing and hits it, I smirk as the dreaded thing topples off its place in the roof and comes crashing to the ground in front of me.

I hear the screams of my mom, dad and brother as they scamper to see what happened to their prized internet lives. My dad is the first out the back and when he sees the large pile of scrap metal on the floor a snarl appears on his face. He storms towards me and I have no time to run, just put my hands up in front of my face as he punches me, sending me flying into the fence behind me, cracking the wood.

My mom is next and bursts into tears at the sight before her. Of course the antenna on the ground not her own daughter on the ground. My brother comes to stand next to her and starts to wail, having a tantrum that his internet is gone and that he wants it fixed.

My dad moves to his son and says that he will fix it. He then grabs the ladder from the side passage and places it against the house before the orders start coming. The three of them manage to get the thing back up and running, my dad having been a satellite dish installer before his parents passed away, quickly fixes it while I sit with my back up against the wall and seethe in hatred at the whole thing.

But just when he climbs down the ladder it comes out from beneath him and he crashes to the ground. My mom is by his side at once, fussing over him and helps him into the house and back to their room where she will put him to bed.

I sit there for hours and watch the sun set behind our house, consuming me in the night's darkness. The only night is a full moon that gives me its reassuring glow, as if trying to comfort me in my hour of defeat. I smile up at it and finally bring myself back to my feet.

"I wish that my family would get what they deserve!" I say as I gaze up at the moon with a large grin on my face before I make my way into the house, up the stairs and up to my room. All the lights are off and everyone else is asleep as I climb into bed in my night clothes and fall into a blissful sleep under the watchful glow of the full moon.

End Flashback

"Then when I came home the next day, the house was burnt to the ground. My mom, dad and brother were all dead. But it gets better, then the police tell me that they weren't even my real parents." I finish and by the end I feel numb.

I willed myself not to show how much it hurt so that is why I'm currently in a numb like state at the moment. I haven't looked at Gaara throughout my tail but now I feel myself wanting to see his face and look up only to meet the fabric of his shirt, his arms coming round me. I freeze in shock. I feel his head on top of my own and his scent overpowers me as I just stand there, no even having the energy to push him away. My heart is racing and fire floods my cheeks as he holds me close to him. It all feels so right, I feel like I'm finally home, right here in his arms.

"I'm sorry." He finally says and I still don't move. I just stand there, willing my face to turn back to its normal colour and my heart to calm down. "I didn't know how you had suffered. Now I think I know why you act like you do. Thank you for sharing your story with me, Nicola." He finishes and I stop breathing for a second when he says my name. The way he says it, the way it rolls off his tong just makes it seem so special, so beautiful.

I push him away, finally finding the strength and he lets me, his arms falling to his sides and I step back from him. I take a deep breathe before I start to speak. "It's nothing special really; you should hear Arisu's. Now that is sad." I say and look up at him to see him smiling; there goes my stomach doing flip flops again.

"Well thank you anyway but this doesn't change anything. I will still beat you in the third exam." He says, his eyes lighting up with a playful tint to them. I catch on, he's doing it to try and cheer me up.

"You can try!" I say smiling up at him. "I will so whip the floor with you."

"I don't think so, I now have a way to beat you." He shoots back and I just smirk in response.

"There is nothing you can do that I can not counter with something else." I state boldly.

He shakes his head at me. "We shall see. He then turns to leave and I shout for him to stop.

"So, what happened just," I say nervously. "What does this make us?"

He looks over his shoulder with a smirk which I frown at. "Rivals, of course!" he says disappearing in a swirl of sand and my anger flairs.

"I didn't mean that jerk!" I shout to thin air like he was standing in front of me. He knew full well what I mean and is doing this on purpose to get to me, that jerk. He will pay for that, both him and his smug attitude!

I then calm myself as I walk down the corridor and open the door at the end, stepping through it and closing it behind me. Hearing a shout I look down to see a line of people on the arena floor in front of the Hokage, including him. Though he doesn't look at me I can imagine that smug look on his face and so I bore holes in his head with my eyes, daring him to turn round and look at me. But before he can he is saved by Arisu shouting up at me.

"Hey Nick get down here!" she shouts up at me waving. "The Hokage is just about to pick who we will fight in the third round."

My eyes widen and I volt over the railing and hit the ground next to her in excitement. This will mean I could get to fight the smug jerk on my left and put him in his place. The Hokage looks at me questioningly but continues with a speech I must have mist some of.

He explains how we have one month to train to get stronger and then we will have to fight each other in a tournament like fashion. The further you get in the third stage the more likely you can be chosen to become chunin but even if you don't win one you could still be picked and in vice versa if you won it all you could still not be chosen. It all depends on how you perform in the third stage before the audience and the village leaders present.

Then we were to choose our opponents with one person not having one so being able to move onto the next round automatically. The numbers were as follows:

Naruto: 1

Neji: 2

Shino: 3

Kankuro (Gaara's teammate and older brother from what I gathered from Arisu and Naruto): 4

Temari (Gaara's teammate and older sister from what my team had told me again): 5

Shikamaru: 6

Gaara: 7

Me: 8

Sasuke: 9

Dosu Kinuta (a sound ninja): 10

Arisu: 11

When the table was given and I saw I was fighting Gaara my eyes turned his way and locked with his sea green ones. The electricity between us went up and I glared at him as he glared back. Everyone gave us funny looks but I'm sure he cared about that even less then I did, all that matters is that in one months time, we will get to fight each other and this time, everyone will get to see who the real better ninja is.

Few!

That was the longest chapter yet! ^_^

Not much to say so heres a fact for you!

FACT!

Arisu is inspired by my real life best friend!

Nicola is inspired on how I wish I could be, so she is loosly based on me!

Ayway...........

Rate and Review! XD