A/N: Okay, so on the last chapter I sorta kinda gave you the short end of the stick. So to make up for that really short chapter, here's a slightly longer one. Enjoy. Review or we go back to the short chapters!

-Zendaya-

"Haha! I knew I could do it!"

I said with a smile as I hopped up and down.

'You did well child.'

My mom said and I turned to look at her, not having realized she returned to the mental plain of my subconciousness, and stopped when I saw Gaara leaning against the stone wall surrounding my spot with his arms crossed and an unreadable look on his face.

"You look like an idiot."

He said, seeming bored and I glared at him.

"What was that!?"

I snapped at him and he simply ignored me and pushed off from the wall.

He stopped a couple feet away from me, his arms still crossed, and I glared at him even more. After a few minutes passed and all we did was stand in place looking at each other I snapped.

"Well? Are you going to start teaching me or aren't you!?"

I asked and heard Gaara make a sound in the back of his throat before realizing he'd scoffed at my question. I felt my anger rising again and felt my fingertips start to tingle.

"What did I tell you earlier?"

He asked and I glared at him even more.

"If you want to start training, then talk to me like I am your sensei."

He said simply and I clenched my jaw and balled my hands into fists. He was making me extremely angry. He was teasing me, but I really wanted to be a ninja and I needed a teacher.

"Are you going to start teaching me or aren't you, sensei?"

I managed to get out and saw the corner of his mouth lift up in a smirk and I felt like throttling him.

"I know you can perform the shadow clone jutsu, but that's it correct?"

He asked suddenly and I blinked at his question in shock. My anger faded completely as he caught me off guard. He went from teasing me to being completely serious.

"Yes."

I said and saw him nod before looking me up and down.

"In that case I'm guessing we'll have to work on your Genjutsu and Taijutsu as well, but for now we'll focus on your Ninjutsu. You need to learn jutsus to perform them."

He said and I was slightly shocked he was speaking so much. In the fifteen days I've been here he's never really spoke and when he did it was only a few words.

"So what do we do?"

I asked and he looked me in the eye and I shivered from the intensity in his gaze before he spoke.

"We start your training."

-Gaara-

I watched as Zendaya repeated the hand signs I'd shown her and felt her chakra pick up before she completed yet another jutsu. I was a little surprised that she seemed to be able to learn so many jutsu and perform them correclty so quickly, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed.

"Okay, now which one?"

Zendaya asked after having finished the jutsu. I didn't even bother having her call me sensei again, honestly I only made her do it earlier because I knew it'd make her mad.

"Try this one, its a little more advanced but-"

I said as I did the hand signs. She repeated my movements with ease and finished the jutsu seconds after I finished showing her how.

Her chakra control is impressive, and the amount is close to yours and that Naruto kid's.

Shukaku said and I simply nodded as Zendaya started another jutsu.

I think its time to work on her Taijutsu.

I thought and Shukaku nodded in agreement before I called Zendaya's name and called her back over to me.

I handed her a couple shuriken and kunai, then told her to start practicing with them.

"How? There are no targets or anything."

She said and I smiled to myself before making a few targets out of my sand and hardening them before sending some into the air and some scattered around the little practice area we were in.

"Now try."

I said and smiled when I saw the look of awe on her face before she went to do as I'd said. It wasn't long until I realized she had no idea what she was doing.

"Like this."

I said as I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her to show her the proper way to hold both the shuriken and the kunai, as well as how to throw them. This close to her I couldn't help but notice how soft her skin felt and her scent. Most my sense were heightened because of my being a Jinchuuriki, my sense of smell being one of them and Zendaya's scent was a little intoxicating. It smelled like a mix of sugar and spice. It wasn't overbearing, and I doubted anyone else could notice it, but it made me tighten my grip around Zendaya slightly and move a little closer. Then I realized what I was doing.

I let go of Zendaya and quickly stepped back, putting space between us.

"Good. Keep practicing until you've hit all of the targets' bullseye."

I said to her before using my sand to teleport to the rooftops above the area Zendaya was training in.

What was that?

Shukaku asked, but I didn't have an answer for him because I honestly didn't know. What I did know was that my heart was beating faster than normal and wouldn't slow down.

-Zendaya-

I couldn't move. I wasn't sure what to think of what just happened. Was it my imagination or did that really just happen? One moment Gaara was helping me to throw the shuriken correctly and it was completely normal, then the next thing I know I became acutely aware of his arms around me and I couldn't help but blush. My heart was still pounding and when I felt him tighten his hold on me just slightly I thought it was going to jump out of my chest and land on the sandy ground right at our feet. Then it all ended and he disappeared in a wave of sand like he always did.

I...What just happened?

I wondered as I tried to focus back on the task at hand. I mentally shook myself before gripping the last two shuriken still in my hand like Gaara had showed me, blushing as I remembered how he'd done so, then threw it.

My eyes widened when I saw that it hit its mark, right in the middle.

"Yes!"

I screamed and jumped up and down like I had done before Gaara showed up. I stopped when I remembered what he'd said when he saw me doing that before and settled for just smiling instead. In the last two hours I'd managed to learn more with Gaara's help than I had on my own. I was starting to wonder why I hadn't accepted his help before hand, but that didn't matter. What did was the fact that I had a teacher now and I was one step closer to becomming a ninja.