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We had a month to train for the finals. I hadn't used all of my tricks in the preliminaries, but I needed to train, to get even better. The ninja that had passed the preliminaries were all exceptional, and I would have to push myself to get to a higher level if I wanted to match up.

Every morning I got up early, leaving the twins in their beds, and left the hotel. I had found a secluded training place the first day, a small clearing in the woods. I never saw anyone there, so I guessed that I was the only one that knew it was there. Or at least I was the only one who used it.

This morning I left even earlier than usual, way before the sun was even up. I had had another nightmare, and instead of trying to go back to sleep I felt it would be time better spent training. Plus the training would take my mind off the nightmare.

I made my way to the clearing, never noticing the stealthy shadow in the tops of the trees that was invisibly following me. Finally reaching the clearing, I took in a deep breath of the leafy smelling air. I was getting somewhat used to the green smell, but I still missed the warm scent of hot sand.

I made my way to the middle of my little clearing and started my routine. I always started with Taijutsu. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, feeling the wind stirring around me in response to my chakra. My Taijutsu was special, a technique that I was still perfecting. I sought to be one with the wind, to meld my body, much like I already did with my chakra to the shape of the wind.

I had already set up various traps around the vicinity, rigged with pressure plates so that as I stepped on them the traps would send kunai knives flying out at me.

I stepped on the first plate, eyes still closed. With my senses tuned in to the wind, I could feel the air shifting, the wind curving and bending around the objects moving at high velocity towards me. Mimicking the wind, I allowed my body to curve and bend, taking broad sweeping steps, spinning in circles with my arms outstretched to feel the wind more keenly and thus able to anticipate the incoming objects.

As I moved I allowed my chakra to leak out a little into the air around my body, allowing me to use it as an extension of my body. I continued to spin and bend, leaning this way and that in what probably would look like some sort of dance, as I avoided every kunai, not allowing their proximity to unnerve me, confidant in the wind around my body to alert me of their presence.

One flew towards my face, so I bent backwards, just enough so the knife flew past my nose. I felt another one heading towards my hip from the side, so I finished the back bend, touching my hands down to the ground and lifted my lower half into the air in a handstand as the knife flew under me harmlessly. My feet touched down on the other side of me and I stood, immediately feeling more knives come at me since I had landed on another plate. One came at me from the front, but all I had to do was arch myself to the side for it to slip by me, and then immediately swayed to the other side to dodge another knife, before arching my hips forwards to avoid one from the side. And so it continued, swaying side to side, curving up, backwards, forwards, bending like the wind to avoid the deadly projectiles.

As I slowly sped up the pace stepping on more and more pressure plates, I sent chakra to my fingertips and then extended it into the air beyond to form flat, sharpened, currents of air, almost like blades from each hand. It was a jutsu I was still working on. I began to deflect some of the kunai, still dancing around most. There were so many kunai in the air now that I had to sweep my arms through the air sending an air current in one way or another, a mere disturbance, but enough that it would slow down the knives momentum enough for me to bend this way or that.

Letting my chakra leak out into the air as I had been, and spinning around and around, had built up air currents that I could now manipulate. I was surrounded my multitudes of bands of air, and I began my next step in my training with them. This was yet another Jutsu I was creating, I was thinking of calling it Dancing Winds Shield Jutsu.

Using these bands of air I sped them up a little and wrapped my chakra around them, grasping control of the air currents. Now standing still, I used only the air currents to deflect the remaining volleys of kunai.

After the last few kunai had been tossed aside I stood breathing heavily for a few brief moments. Once I had caught my breath I moved on to the next stage in my training regimen.

I sat cross legged on the ground, quieting my mind and slowing my heavy breathing. Letting my chakra leak out into the wind surrounding me, I became one with the air and sent out tendrils of currents from my body, attaching various sensory inputs to each tendril that told me the layout of the clearing, the various positions of different kinds of birds and animals in the forest surrounding me, and other such information.

Using this sensory technique I was also able to sense chakra, mostly as a heat signature in the air or sometimes by a specific feel, flavor, or even scent of the chakra.

I immediately sensed heat from behind me, a few feet into the trees, and a lot of it, signaling an enormous chakra signature. Alarmed, I sent air currents to investigate. As soon as I got close enough to sense the distinctive heat and spicy flavor of the chakra I relaxed, knowing who it was.

Naturally it was Gaara, stalking me from the shadows. It was sufficiently creepy for his personality. Once I had ascertained the identity of the intruder I sent a stiff wind to blow him over, my way of saying 'hi how ya doin? I know you're there.' He didn't actually fall, but the unexpected gust did have him staggering back a few paces.

Correctly interpreting the unnatural gust of wind, he stalked into the clearing, scowling with his arms crossed, looking for all the world like a sulky boy with his hand caught in the cookie jar. I turned to give him a slanty eyed stare, "What were you doing skulking in the shadows like that, Gaara?"

He just stared, unblinking and seemingly unaffected by my question. He seemed perfectly content to not answer me. Typical.

I sighed, not really in the mood to deal with his grumpy personality at the moment. "Whatever…" I just blew him off, not particularly concerned by his presence.

I turned back around and went back to meditating, although it turned out to be more difficult with him standing behind me. I was intensely aware of his presence, meditating and sending my chakra into the wind to sense around the area was nearly impossible with him taking up all my attention. His chakra signature was so enormous, that it nearly wiped out all the subtle chakras around me.

He had a very appealing chakra as well, one that I certainly didn't mind having around. If chakra were a sound, his would be the kind of music that I would enjoy listening to. It definitely had a spicy sort of feel to it, which I found quite pleasing.

After a while of failing to train my senses I sighed, giving up and opening my eyes. Without turning I asked, "So…why are you stalking me?"

Silence.

I continued to look forward, away from him while I talked to him. "No comment? Are you trying to be creepy or do you just naturally have a penchant for watching people from the shadows and then not answering when asked why?"

Nothing.

I finally turned to look at him over my shoulder. He was still standing there, arms crossed, looking all sullen. I sighed. "Seriously?"

After a quiet staring contest he turned and walked away, back into the woods. I blinked, still so unused to his new personality.

Well fine. If that's the way he wants to play…

I finished training, thinking about how I could get him back. Eventually I decided that tomorrow I would do the same thing and follow him. Why not? Turn about it fair play after all….

Of course to catch him I had to get up way early, before the sun was up. I wasn't really much of an early riser, I did not enjoy getting up early and avoided it unless I had a nightmare, which was every night, so mornings generally weren't very fun for me. Still, to accomplish this goal I didn't mind having to get up before the sun. I was pretty confident I would be anyways.

Sure enough, like clockwork I woke up sweaty and shaking from a nightmare way before the sun ever touched the horizon. Careful not to wake the boys I snuck into the bathroom and took a quick shower, putting up a wind barrier in front of the door to muffle the noise.

After washing off all the sweat, I dressed quickly and quietly and then snuck out the window. I went down into the alley outside my window and then around the building next door, scaling the wall opposite to the one against our hotel. Getting onto that roof I lingered in the shadows, locating Gaara on his rooftop and watching and waiting for him to leave.

After an hour or so he stood up and jumped down off the roof, disappearing in a puff of sand only to appear on the ground below. I crept down my wall, landing in the alleyway.

He was already off down the road, so I snuck behind him, staying to the shadows. He stopped by some food stand on the way, and the vendor handed him a bag of food without either one exchanging words or Gaara's payment, which made me think that Baki had probably already arranged for food that Gaara liked, prepaid for. Smart.

I tailed him through the village and watched as he opened the bag and popped what looked like pieces of cooked meat into his mouth. Huh. Interesting, I don't think I've seen Gaara eating before.

He glanced back mid-bite, his teeth imbedded in the meat but his eyes trained in my direction. I slunk further into the shadows and behind a corner just to be sure.

After a moment he resumed eating and turned his eyes forwards again, continuing walking. I followed, a little further behind this time. Once he reached what seemed to be the edge of the village he veered off into the woods, and I followed.

He glanced back again. This time I snuck behind a tree and waited until he started forwards again. I followed him to a small training area that he had staked out. Everyone had picked out secretive training places so that they wouldn't give away any secrets. But he had chosen to train in the training grounds provided, in an area slightly away from everyone else but still in full view.

Of course Gaara had nothing to hide.

There were a few scattered ninja throughout the training grounds, none of the Genin training to become Chunin, but plenty of Genin not in the exams, a few Chunin, and even some Jonin. I skulked behind the trees at the edge of the training fields, getting a look at Gaara's training regimen.

He uncorked his gourd and a large majority of the ninja in the training grounds vacated the area. That made me nervous, just what kind of training did he do anyway?

His sand spilled out of his gourd and made a puddle around him, roiling over the ground in a disconcerting manner. And then he sent his sand out in a deadly spiral around his form, cleanly chopping the dummies set around him into little bits of straw and wood. I flinched along with everyone else on the training field. The remaining ninja on the field widened the space they had given him considerably.

He continued his silent assault, standing mute and stationary at the epicenter of what was quickly becoming a disaster zone. Any dummy within range was promptly dismembered and then reduced to a random mishmash of straw and chopped up wooden bits.

The ninja quickly realized he was taking over the entire training grounds and exited the field entirely. After a good 5 minutes his field had been entirely demolished, the ground perfectly level and carpeted with a fine dust that had once been perfectly usable training dummies.

When he was done, he uncrossed his arms, reached one arm out and flicked his fingers forward and up. The sand I hadn't noticed sneaking up behind me snagged my ankles, unceremoniously dumping me onto my backside and then roughly dragging me out into the field.

He dragged me right to his feet, halfway turning to once again glare down his nose at me. I lay sprawled out at his feet on the ground with my shirt riding up and my hair thoroughly tangled with dirt and straw bits. I'm pretty sure I had several splinters in my back as well.

I crossed my arms, not attempting to get up and stubbornly lay where he put me to glare up at him with the most offended look I could manage. "What the hell was that for Gaara?" I grouched, not feeling that the dragging was entirely necessary.

He fully turned to face me, his toes nearly touching my side, and crossed his arms, upping the wattage on his glare by a good 20 percent.

I glanced at his loincloth thing, remembering the last time he had stood over me. "If your thing smacks me in the face again I'm gonna pull it off. Just so you know." He snorted, his glare easing a smidge.

"Say what?!" came a voice from somewhere behind me. I groaned, not particularly in the mood to deal with Kankuro's shit at the moment. Where had he come from anyway? "Don't go smacking chicks in the face with your thing Gaara, it'll dissuade continued services if you know what I mean." I looked over just in time to catch his wagging eyebrows and stupid expression.

I groaned at the so not subtle innuendo that was obviously lost on his younger brother, judging by Gaara's continued blank expression. "Don't ask, Gaara, you're better off not knowing." I muttered. Gaara quirked his head and glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Anyway, I didn't come out here to make fun of you two love birds," Kankuro chuckled, very pleased with himself. Both Gaara and I flinched at his "love birds" comment. "I came out here because Baki wanted to talk to all of us about the final rounds tomorrow." I was pretty sure the only reason Gaara didn't kill him on the spot was because he was simply too shocked.

I cursed under my breath, both at Kankuro and his sly comments and the fact that I had nearly forgotten that the finals were tomorrow. Time keeping was so not my thing.

End Chapter 14

Author's Note:

New Chapter! As promised! Don't forget to review! All my reviewers are absolutely amazing!