Takani crouched on a tree branch. She had been making her way steadily to the tower in the center of the forest, but had heard someone coming. It was a team of three. They were talking as they went.

"Calm down, Gaara. You don't need to kill anyone now."

Takani froze. Gaara. He was one of the Sand ninja that she had met earlier. He seemed pretty dangerous, but he looked young and innocent. The older girl, however, looked difficult.

Takani took a deep breath and started to jump from her perch on the branch. Before she finished, however, another team came bursting out of the brush.

"Give us your scroll!"

The older girl started laughing. Gaara glared at the group of Genin. Then, he gave a small, sickly smile.

"Heh…you really want to fight?" he said quietly, balling his fists.

"Heck yeah! You're going down!"

"Gaara, don't—" the boy in the black jacket said, reaching out as Gaara raised his hand to the Genin.

"You are going to die, right here," Gaara said. Then he started to laugh. It was frightening.

The three oncoming Genin split up and came at Gaara from three different sides. One of them threw a few shuriken. Gaara didn't move to defend himself.

A split second before the shuriken hit him, a wall of sand shot up to block them. Gaara smiled again.

"Idiots. I'm going to kill you."

He raised his hand to the closest Genin. Before the boy could react, there was sand coating his whole body.

"Gaara, this is really unnecessary," the older girl said, trying to stop Gaara from doing whatever he was going to do.

"Sand coffin, Sand burial." Gaara said softly. The boy rose up, and then the sand crunched down on his body. There was a sickening crack, and the boy's lifeless body fell to the ground. His teammates rushed forward, but stopped when they saw the look on Gaara's face.

They backed away into the bushes. The only girl on the team started crying.

Takani's eyes widened. Gaara had just…destroyed the perfectly adept ninja. With one move. And that sand, it had come to his defense like he wasn't even controlling it. And not even letting the team recover their dead teammate—that was cruel.

She jumped down from the branch and into the clearing where this was all taking place. Gaara immediately turned to her, his eyes dark. The older girl looked surprised that anyone would approach the situation.

"Go get your teammate," Takani said to the team cowering in the bushes. They looked at her in fear.

"Do you want to die too?" Gaara said, summoning the sand.

Takani took a deep breath, mustering up her courage. "I don't think you're that capable."

The boy in the black jacket sucked in a breath. Gaara snarled.

"Go!" Takani yelled to the team in the bushes. "You're not just going to leave him there, are you?"

"You're the little kid we saw in the Leaf, huh?" Gaara said, narrowing his eyes. "How old are you, three?"

"Five, thank you," Takani said sharply. The two Genin in the brush started to creep towards their dead teammate.

"Do you want to fight?" Gaara asked. "Because if you do, you will die. To kill you will make me feel whole. I like that feeling."

Takani sucked in a breath. "You're all talk."

The older girl was starting to panic. "No, he's not. It's not really smart to go up against him…I mean…you're just a kid—"

Gaara held up his hand to silence his team member. He took a step towards Takani, but she knew better than to back up. She stomped her foot on the ground where she was standing, as if to say 'I'm not going anywhere.'

"All I'm asking is that you let them get their teammate. You aren't too heartless to allow that, are you?"

"So what if I am?" Gaara asked, smiling slightly.

"Well…" Takani started. The two Genin were quietly picking up their dead teammate by his arms. Then they crept off into the bushes. "…I'd say that you're too late."

Takani jumped into the trees and away from Gaara. He whipped around to see the Genin taking the boy's body into the woods. He cursed and stomped the ground.

Takani met up with the two Genin. The girl had tears on her face. They had laid the body down on the ground a hundred yards from the clearing where Gaara and his team were.

"You guys okay?"

The girl and boy looked up. They were from some smaller Hidden Village, but Takani didn't recognize the symbol on their foreheads. They were both about twelve or so.

"Thank you," the boy said. He was struggling to keep himself together.

"I can't believe he's…" the girl whispered, hugging her knees.

"I'm sorry I didn't do something sooner," Takani said, sighing.

"He's my brother," the girl said, her voice thick. She was stroking his hair. There was blood everywhere.

Takani took a deep breath. "I know how that feels," she said softly.

"You can take our scroll," the boy said, taking out his pack slowly and opening it.

"No, you guys have to—"

"I really don't feel like doing this anymore," the boy said. He handed Takani their blue scroll.

"Just take it. I don't want to see it," the girl said, starting to shake.

Takani took the scroll from the boy. Then she took a kunai from her pack and wrapped a paper bomb around it.

"What are you doing?" the boy asked.

"Sending people to come get you guys."

The girl started to cry. Takani threw the kunai into the air as hard as she could. As it hit its peak, just above the trees, she made a hand sign. The bomb exploded, sending a red flare up into the air.

Takani gave one last 'sorry' to the Genin and started to run away. About a minute later, some Chunin came and helped the boy and girl back to Konoha.