Once the final battle ended, the winners gathered on the main floor of the room. A simple standard tournament bracket was quickly drawn up. A box with small slips of paper was passed around, giving everyone their appropriate place in the bracket at random.

First would be Naruto Uzumaki against the Hyuuga boy.

The second round consisted of Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara.

Third would be Aly herself against Kankuro.

The fourth battle was Shikamaru Nara, Temari, and Maki in a three way tournament where Shikamaru and Temari would fight first, and the winner went against Maki. To say Maki wasn't exactly joyous over this development would be an understatement.

After being told the order, they learned that the final round wouldn't take place for another month. Of course, most of them, including Aly, already knew this.

So, with that, they were dismissed.

.

"Hey Kankuro, no hard feelings okay?"

"Actually I was planning on forfeiting," he replied to Aly's question.

"Oh, okay then, I guess that makes sense."

.

Only a week had passed since the exams, and Aly was bored. Sure, she had been training, but there really was only so much one could do.

Plus, training was so boring.

Currently, Aly was walking down the streets of Konoha to find some lunch. Seeing a ramen stand, she went and found a seat. When she turned to the side however, she realized she had sat down right next to a leaf genin that had made it to the final rounds.

He must of realized the same thing, because when he turned to her the first thing out of his mouth was, "Hey, you're the girl who used that weird thing on Shino, right?"

"Yeah, and you're the guy who wouldn't stay down," it wasn't a question.

"Yep! Believe it!"

Aly couldn't help but laugh at that, the kid sure was interesting.

"Can I help you miss?" the cook finally broke in.

"Uh, well, I'll have whatever he's having," she said, pointing at Naruto's bowl, which looked uber delicious.

So, she spent her lunch with Naruto, and even agreed to train with him a bit afterwards.

.

Of course, Naruto wasn't the only one who inquired about her odd weapon. In fact, her own team did so the night after the preliminaries.

"So, what exactly was that thing you used against your opponent?" Maki initiated the questioning, although it was obvious that the Nejiri and their sensei were interested as well.

"Oh, that? Nothing really," she tried avoiding the question.

"C'mon! you have to tell us! I've never seen anything like that!" Nejiri put in.

"Fine, in the lands outside the hidden continent they have different weapons. This is one of them. It's quite common there, really."

"So how did you get a hold of it?" Maki asked.

"It was a gift, from my father."

No more was said on the subject, even though there were still unasked questions. After all, those could wait until they returned to Suna, where it was safe to converse.

.

Another week had passed.

Aly was currently working on her ice jutsu. She had decided that even if the test was bogus and she probably wasn't going to get to fight anyway, of she did she was not going to use the gun. Not in front of a crowd like that. That was just asking for trouble.

"Hey,"

Aly paused half way through the hand signs and looked around for the source of her disruption. Soon, she spotted it, or rather him, walking towards her.

"Gaara!" her whole face lit up with happiness.

"Aly," he nodded in acknowledgement.

Giving up on her practice, she ran at him. When she got close enough, she jumped into the air and tackled him in a hug.

"What brings you here?" the kunoichi asked.

"I was wondering if you would like to get something to eat," Gaara replied.

"As in a date?"

"I suppose you could say that."

"Okay, so where would you want to eat?" Aly queried.

"There's this barbeque place that I've heard is quite delicious."

"Then lead the way my daring knight!"

This made Gaara falter, although he really should have been used to her behavior, "huh."

"Just walk."

"Okay."

The date went rather well, although it would have been better had a rather loud leaf genin team wasn't sitting in the booth behind theirs. Altogether, the two enjoyed the evening, even if one of them had aan odd way of showing it.

Aly really enjoyed the time with her Gaara. He even walked her to her door, although she was staying in the same hotel as him…

When they arrived at the door to Aly's hotel room, Gaara stood there a while, as if having an internal battle. Then, suddenly he leaned in and cupped Aly's face in one hand. Slowly, he gently pressed his lips to hers. For a second they stayed that way, enjoying the closeness of the sensation with their eyes shut.

Bam, all of a sudden the door to Aly's room flew open from the inside.

"Okay lovebirds, time to break it up," Maki yelled as she grabbed the back of Aly's shirt and dragged her inside the room.

"See you later Gaara!" Aly called sheepishly.

"…" After the door slammed shut in his face, Gaara remained standing there speechless for a moment before grumbling and walking back to his own room.

.

Meanwhile, inside the hotel room, Maki was squealing in a rather girlish fashion.

"My little Aly's growing up! You have to give me all the details! How come you didn't tell me about this sooner?"

Aly wondered how she was expected to answer any of Maki's questions seeing as there was no room to talk during her bombardment.

Look! It's longer! sorry if it's kind of a filler, but it was needed here and I tried to make it as interesting as possible!

To my two reviewers that reviewed amazingly fast:

BLARG: MEOW

SweeterThanChocolate: Sorry the last one was so shoort! I just wanted to get it over with! I hope this one makes up for it, as well as the fact that I hope to update again soon!