Wazzup. Again, thanks for reading this story, reviewing, favoriting, following, etc. I also forgot to mention this a while back, but I have to point out that you guys are asking really good questions about the story, and it's helping me to evaluate the characters and their motives, and I really appreciate it. I also really appreciate the critiques; they all help me improve my writing. You guys are awesome.

Side Note: horizontal line breaks in my stories indicate flashbacks. K bye

Kaiya was admittedly jealous of Sasuke's new speed. It was hard for even her to follow all his movements as he evaded Gaara's sand repeatedly, seemingly with ease. Her dark eyes scanned the arena floor, going back and forth, never resting. There was something that had been bothering her since the beginning of the fight. Well, in all honesty, it was from the moment she first laid eyes on Gaara.

As soon as the match began, he grimaced, tremoring from head to toe; however, he didn't seem like he was in pain. She could see Sasuke's confused expression as well, as he stood there unsure of what to do. After she left the prelims early, Gaara went crazy during his match with Lee, almost killing him. Kaiya knew Sasuke was strong, but she didn't like this guy, even more than the Sound ninjas. He was too dangerous; his bloodlust was palpable, even from her spot in the stands. If something happened, she didn't care how angry Sasuke or anyone else would be, she was jumping down there to his side—no matter how frightened she was of Gaara.

Kaiya hardly ever admitted she was afraid, save a few times in her life, and only to certain people. Sometimes, she wouldn't even admit it to herself. But this was different. Gaara seemed like he loved the sight of blood…craved it, almost. She could hold her own against a lot of people, but she was afraid if she had to fight Gaara, she'd lose. Not only the battle, but her life.

And that frightened her more than anything in the world.

Kaiya once thought she didn't even fear death, but after coming close to dying a few times in the Forest of Death, after watching her teammates' lives ripped out of them like stuffing…well, let's just say she wasn't disappointed that she was still breathing now. It made her feel guilty in a way—the fact that she was still alive because she was a coward who couldn't even try to defend her teammates' lives, but…for the better part of her, she was relieved.

Kaiya wondered when Sasuke would use the technique he learned from Kakashi—Chidori. She had never actually seen it herself, but she'd heard all the stories. Even when she was still living with her parents and siblings, they'd talk about the great Kakashi of the Sharingan and his Lightning Cutter. She wondered if the rumors were true, if he really had used that jutsu to cut lightning in half.

The fight hadn't gone on for very long when Naruto, accompanied by Shikamaru, arrived in a rush. Naruto called for Kakashi, getting the others' attention as well. Kaiya looked back and frowned; she'd been wondering where they'd gone, assuming they had returned to the waiting area, even though Shikamaru lost his match. What was bothering her even more was the fact that Shikamaru hardly ever showed any emotion other than apathy, because it was just too much work. But he looked pale, like he'd just seen a ghost. Something had frightened him.

Naruto begged Kakashi to stop the match, because Sasuke was in danger. Kaiya's gut wrenched as her internal radar went off like warning sirens in her head. Her shoulders tensed, and she bit her lip, but made no attempt to move, nor did she ask Naruto any questions. For once, she sat there and listened, but kept her eyes intently trained on the match below. Gaara was protecting himself with a sand shell, and Sasuke was trying desperately to break it, but was coming up with nothing but injuries. She winced. What's that creep thinking? she wondered. Is he hiding from Sasuke, or…?

"We don't have time for this!" Naruto shouted, bringing Kaiya's attention back to him. The blonde stretched out his arms in urgency towards his sensei. His face did nothing to hide his panic. Kaiya's eyes narrowed slowly. She could understand Naruto's fear, but she saw how lax Kakashi seemed as she glanced back at them again. That made her relax, just a little. "That guy isn't normal; he lives to kill others! At this rate…Sasuke will die!"

Kakashi's eye stayed trained on his rowdy, blonde student. Even with the mask covering most of his face, Kaiya could tell that he had a calm demeanor about him, per usual. It didn't change in the slightest at Naruto's declaration.

"Relax, Naruto," he instructed coolly. Naruto's eyes widened, shocked. "We weren't late for nothing, you know." Kaiya closed her eyes. So that's it. It was that jutsu… She was more confident in that moment than in any other since Sasuke arrived that he was going to be just fine. He was about to display the ripest fruits of his labor. Kaiya's mind trailed back to four weeks earlier, a few days after the preliminaries had ended.

Kaiya was up early, before the sun, determined to keep her promise to Sasuke and get stronger. Kakashi had already snuck him out of the hospital, so that meant that while he was working hard, she was going to be working hard as well. She didn't have a master, but that didn't mean she could take it easy. She'd heard that even Naruto was training with someone, and there was no way she was going to let a buffoon like him surpass her more than he already had.

Tenten, Neji, and Lee introduced Kaiya to their eccentric sensei, Might Guy. It was awkward, and Kaiya finally saw where Lee got his inspiration from…and to be honest, she was having second thoughts. However, like Lee, Guy was an expert in taijutsu. He was dorky and lame and overzealous, but he was the best person in the village to train her. Even though she needed a trainer who could teach her ninjutsu—a skill that she lacked, in all honesty—she wanted to increase her stamina even further. She didn't like the fact that Lee had been better than her at martial arts, when she had aimed to be the best.

After seeing and hearing what Lee could do, she was determined to surpass him—or at least catch up. He, along with Guy, were in a class all their own. They had no ninjutsu skills whatsoever, even less than her, so they were the perfect goal for her to aspire to reach.

At least they didn't make her wear a green jumpsuit.

Guy was unfortunately too busy to train her privately, so he told her to start out by changing her workout routine to something she'd never done before. On top of that, she should create a workout she thought was impossible to complete, to push herself mentally as well as physically. He also said something about self-rules, but Kaiya didn't like the sound of that, so she ignored that advice.

Shaking her head, she sighed. To be honest, I'd rather learn ninjutsu, but I don't know of anyone who can train me right now. Plus, Guy-sensei has the best taijutsu in the village, so…beggars can't be choosers, I guess. Damn it.

Sighing, she stared up at one of the many tall, sturdy oaks in Training Ground 2. This was her favorite one out of all of them, aside from the one she and Sasuke used together. It was an older training ground, so it had been abandoned for years, since several newer ones had been made in the last decade. It was quiet there, where she could train and think in peace. No one else seemed to bother going there.

Well, Kaiya used to come here with another person, but that was a long time ago.

Besides, she's gone now, she thought, frowning. Now it's just me. Forcing herself to focus on the task at hand, she climbed up the tree (the normal way, without using chakra) and swung over to one of the highest branches that was thick enough to support her.

She threw her legs over it and hooked them so that she was hanging upside down, about thirty feet off the ground. Once she was situated, she put her hands behind her head and began her workout with crunches. She set a goal of one thousand to start out with, knowing that she'd exhaust all her energy before she reached even half that number.

This had better get me results. Kaiya gritted her teeth; she could already feel the perspiration working its way to the surface of her skin, after only three hundred, which was her normal limit. In a matter of mere minutes, her fair skin glistened with beads of sweat, trickling down her flustered cheeks.

She was on five-hundred-ten when she was so numb all she could feel was the weight of her body working against her; the pain had exceeded her level of comfort on number three-hundred-sixteen, but she kept going. The sun was just making its way past the horizon, casting the sky in a multitude of colors, like a kaleidoscope. Kaiya wished she could enjoy it, but right now, she couldn't enjoy anything. But she wasn't about to slow down or quit—not yet. She had to finish what she started.

Hours later, when the sun began its descent below the horizon, flinging the sky back into its colorful phantasmagoria, Kaiya was finally at the breaking point. Without a break, she'd worked from before sunup to now, and to say she was exhausted was the understatement of the century. Sweat poured out of almost every orifice on her body; she felt like she was drowning in it. Every muscle felt like it had been torn to shreds and set on fire, nothing but limp noodles boiling in a pot. Her organs had melted inside her body and turned into mush; she was now just a bag of bones hanging upside down in a tree.

Why was she still upside down? That was a good question, one Kaiya didn't know the answer to herself. On top of everything else she'd done that day, she decided to go back and see if she could beat one thousand and make it to two thousand—with the burden of already being exhausted past the breaking point. When Kaiya had asked Guy what his secret to growing stronger was, he said that along with his (stupid) self-rules, he pushed himself even further after he was already worn out. It was supposed to produce endurance, but Kaiya thought the truth of the matter was that it only produced stupidity. Still, no harm in trying, right?

Wrong.

Kaiya's body decided to finally give out on her on crunch number one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine. Damn it, I've got no strength left. Her vision blurred as exhaustion threatened to overtake her at last. She fought it the best she could, but not an ounce of energy remained in her body; it was taking everything she had just to breathe. She went limp, dangling upside down for a few drawn-out seconds, blood rushing to her head like the sand in an hourglass. The branch waned under her dead weight; having been worn from supporting her for hours on end, it snapped, and she made the thirty-foot drop to what would most likely be her death.

She couldn't muster up the strength to scream. She just closed her eyes, having no other choice but to accept her fate. It was a lame way to die, but there was nothing she could do about it. She was pretty apathetic about the whole thing, really. She only hoped her classmates wouldn't mock her death too much.

This is karma for what happened to Hibachi and Unagi, she thought, praying she passed out from exhaustion before she hit the ground and went SPLAT all over the place. She felt sorry for whoever had to clean that mess up.

Just before she kissed the grass, however, a flash appeared below her and caught her, preventing her from becoming a Genin pancake. She bounced up from the impact and forced her eyes open, though it took great effort, to see Sasuke grinning as he held her in his arms. They were safe on the ground now.

"Sasu…ke," Kaiya murmured, smirking. It hurt. (Just because it took less muscles to smile than to frown didn't mean it was easy, especially when you couldn't move your body at all without feeling like you were turning to goo).

He studied her quietly for a few moments before speaking. "Tch. Don't you think you're pushing it just a little too far?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in question. "It looks like your training got the best of you this time. Loser." His clothes were ragged, coming apart at the seams; sweat drenched every inch of his skin, making lines of perspiration down the front and back of his shirt. He smelled.

Kaiya made a wheezing snort that was supposed to be a laugh. The action made her head spin for a second. "Same…to you…bastard. That's the last time…I take advice…from Guy-sensei." She winced and groaned, inwardly telling her body to shut up as it cried out for rest. Sasuke's expression melted into one of concern, only for a moment. He grinned softly, switching Kaiya around slowly so that he was carrying her on his back. She frowned but didn't say anything.

"Heh. I've been spending these past few days with Kakashi," Sasuke finally said, a few moments later. "He says I'm going to be learning Lee's taijutsu. So, who knows…I'll probably look worse than you tomorrow." He chuckled lightly as Kaiya growled—about the only thing she could do at that point. He headed back to the heart of the village.

"Where are you taking me, Sasuke?" Kaiya wondered breathlessly, feeling like her lungs were tied in a knot. Nevertheless, she managed to speak clear enough and breathe semi-regularly while doing so. It was the perk of being used to physical conditioning: a quick recovery—at least as far as breathing goes. Her muscles still felt like they were being crushed under two tons of rock while simultaneously being roasted over a fire. But she wasn't going to tell Sasuke that. He'd just mock her.

"Hmm?" Sasuke's eyebrow lifted again as he glanced back at her. It was dark now, their path guided by streetlights and the occasional firefly. "Considering what happened to you before, I don't think it's a good idea to take you back to your place this late. I figured the only option is to take you to my apartment for the night. We've both been working hard all day; we're exhausted. I don't know if I could make it past that point anyway." Kaiya blinked, her face turning a dark red; she was thankful he couldn't see it in the limited artificial light.

"W-wait a minute, Sasuke…do you think that's a good idea?" she murmured, embarrassed. "I mean, isn't that…you know, awkward?" Sasuke rolled his eyes, a light blush appearing on his pale cheeks. Kaiya didn't notice. He averted his eyes to the grass on the right side of the sidewalk, a pout on his face.

"I told you, I'm too tired to take you any farther than that. I could've left you in the training ground all night, so stop complaining." Kaiya's eyebrows furrowed as she stuck out her tongue, almost touching Sasuke's cheek. He could feel the tip of it graze his skin; he flinched and tried to back away, which was useless, since he was carrying her. He twirled around in circles. "Ugh, gross! Kaiya, cut it out!" They laughed as he ducked and tried his best to avoid her, to no avail.

"Serves you right, ya jerk!" she cackled. In that moment, the two of them could forget about their exhaustion and pain for just a little while. And as soon as they made it to Sasuke's apartment, they both crashed on the bed, sitting side-by-side against the headboard. Sasuke had set Kaiya down and hadn't had the strength to move to the floor. Kaiya's head immediately slumped over, falling onto Sasuke's shoulder. He could feel it, as well as her soft snoring, but he didn't care in the least, drifting off into a deep slumber of his own.

Kaiya woke up the next morning to the first day's light shining through the window, directly on her face. She squinted, yawning as she stretched her arms and legs until her joints popped, which granted satisfaction to her soul, as it did every morning. Birds were chirping outside like they always did around her window. She glared out at the trees outside, just past the balcony. But there weren't any trees.

Kaiya blinked several times, her eyebrows furrowing as her head started to clear from her much-needed rest, and her muddled thoughts came together.

Hmm?

The window to her bedroom was on the south side of the room, and her bed was right under it; her desk was in the north corner, and the dresser to the east. Trees covered any view she would otherwise have outside the windows, and birds usually gathered outside of it every morning to wake her up; she hadn't used an alarm clock in years. But this wasn't her bedroom. The hell am I?

Now the window was on the west and on north side of the room were glass doors leading to the balcony outside, where a small table and chair faced the village. I'm in the village, not the forest… There was a television sitting on a desk on the west side of the wall, situated in front of the smaller window. A chair was squeezed in the corner, next to a small bedside table. She was sitting on a large bed, covered by a warm fleece blanket—which she knew was not hers; it smelled oddly familiar, and she began to relax, leaning back on the plethora of pillows behind her.

The Naras lived in a compound, not an apartment, so she didn't have a balcony; they also lived in the forest, so there were countless trees overlapping the roof, covering most of her window. She was in someone else's home—someone she knew, thankfully—but it took her a few minutes to recall the events of the previous day.

When Kaiya was finally awake enough to remember that Sasuke had taken her home with him the night before, that he had taken her to his bed instead of his couch or the floor, she discovered a whole new meaning to the word mortification.

Quickly jumping to her feet, she scrambled around to find her sandals, which were nowhere in the room. Kaiya was in such a frenzy that she didn't even feel how sore her muscles were until she stopped to breathe. Her eyes widened slightly as the discomfort hit her; her legs wobbled, and her arms fell to her sides limply. She could barely hold up her head, like she had a ton of bricks on her shoulder, pushing her towards the floor.

Damn you, Guy-sensei, she cursed angrily, dragging her lead feet back to the bed, where she collapsed face-down. After a few seconds of rest, she tried to flex her arms, but at most she could only move them back and forth over the covers.

She sighed in frustration, rolling over with all the effort she could muster, pouting at the end of it. So much for a new training regime. Sasuke is learning the Chidori right now, and I'm stuck in his bed. After a few moments of self-loathing, she grinned. I can't wait to see it, though. If anyone can pull it off, it's him.

Kaiya grinned, her eyes trailing to Kakashi in confidence. That's right…I've been wanting to see this. And I take it by Kakashi-sensei's coolness that the training was a success.

Well, of course it was. This was Sasuke they were talking about. She chuckled to herself as Sakura started asking questions, which led Guy to explain Chidori to the rest of them. Kaiya listened only part way, because she'd already heard a few stories of Kakashi's famous technique. But right now, she was more interested in seeing it with her own eyes—seeing Sasuke use it. She tuned out the others and focused her full attention back on the match.

The real show had just begun. And it was quite the spectacle. Sasuke's hand ignited with electricity. Kaiya's eyes glimmered with awe. Even most seasoned shinobi didn't see chakra visible in such a way. And for someone as young and inexperienced as Sasuke to be using such a high-level technique…well, that was amazing enough as it was. He was standing at the top of the inner-arena wall now. True to its name, Chidori chirped like a thousand blue, shimmering birds around Sasuke's left arm; sparks flew and crackled.

Kaiya knew what he was doing, because she had done it herself many times: he was putting distance between himself and his opponent, to build up speed. She guessed the Chidori required a good amount of speed, which is why Sasuke was so much quicker than before. She remembered him stating that he was going to be learning Lee's taijutsu, and as confirmed by Kakashi, it was for this reason. From the looks of things, Sasuke climbed the wall to give himself even greater acceleration. Kaiya smirked. He's an Uchiha, alright.

He charged.

Kaiya held her breath as Sasuke's arm sunk into Gaara's dome of sand but struggled to break free after a bloodcurdling scream erupted from within. He had to use the Chidori again, but it was still difficult to loosen his arm, and when he finally removed it, it was injured. Kaiya bit her lip, her eyebrows furrowing. Damn it…that sand is—

Beads of sweat trickled down her now-pale face as what looked like a large arm of sand protruded from Gaara's shell, attempting to grab Sasuke. It looked like it belonged to some sort of bizarre creature that could only be found in the depths of one's darkest nightmares. She had to be seeing things.

Whatever it was, one thing was for sure: it sure as hell wasn't human.

Kaiya's eyes widened as she jumped to her feet, clenching her fists. "What…what the hell is that?!" she roared, running to the railing to get a closer look. Kakashi frowned, sweat on his brow. Gaara's sand crumbled, revealing only the redheaded Sand ninja. Kaiya clenched her fists. I know what I saw…and by the look on Sasuke's face, he saw more than that arm. So then how…?

Kaiya leaned further over the rail to get a better look. Gaara's left shoulder was bleeding. She could see Sasuke's expression, even from that far away: he looked spooked. What did you see, Sasuke? Before anything else happened, Kaiya felt a bit drowsy. Her eyelids drooped, and she slumped over the railing as her muscles gave out, hanging halfway off the side; feathers drifted slowly around her, like snowfall. What is…this…?

Kakashi frowned in Kaiya's direction, moving toward her. However, after only taking one step, something caught his attention, as well as Guy's. Those feathers around Kaiya… He glanced around the rest of the seats in their section, noticing that all the other spectators were passing out as well, one by one. His eyebrows creased. Damn…what the hell is going on here? Guy seemed to read his mind.

"Kakashi, this is—"

"Yeah, I know," he told Guy. "Genjutsu." They released it together; Sakura released it as well. They all turned to Kaiya as she slid forward, heading straight for the arena floor. Her eyes closed before she even hit the ground. No one could reach her in time.

A Lover of Nature: Watching the little bit of Riichi that is shown in the anime, he doesn't seem to be a very serious character, so that's how I tried to portray him. He is a Jonin, so of course he isn't hopeless; "careless" is a better word. He underestimated his students in the test and was too confident, nothing more. Him seeming to be weak against Kaiya's choking, etc., is purely for comedic relief, such as Sakura pounding Naruto all the time. In reality, she wouldn't be able to hurt him.