Mica's back! Yay! Let's count how many times I use the word 'disturbed', kay?

Chapter 24: Disturbed

Shizen smirked, "Yo."

Temari's face lightened up, "Sh-Shizen-chan!" The two of them embraced with large smiles plastered on their faces.

Gaara hid a small smile behind his tea cup. 'I knew it was her,' he thought.

Temari grinned, walking out of the embrace, "Have you met our new Kazekage?"

Shizen shook her head, "Iie, dare ka?"

Gaara took this as his cue to raise his head. He tried to give her the most casual greeting he could think of (his thoughts were racing to his "good-bye present" to her two years ago after the failed attempt of trying to bring back Sasuke) – a wave.

"G-Gaara wa K-Kazekage wa k-ka?" Shizen was shocked. 'That means… he's a whole lot stronger! Yare, yare, Naruto-kun's not gonna be happy about this.'

Gaara smirked, "Nande? You're an oi-nin, an individual that undergoes the same training as the ANBU. That's pretty impressive, too."

Shizen rolled her eyes, "BUT YOU'RE THE KAZEKAGE!" She crossed her arms and closed her eyes, a small pout playing on her face, "It's totally different."

Kankuro suddenly burst into the room, "What's with all the – Shizen?! WHAT ARE YOU DOIN' HERE?!?!"

"I'm the oi-nin sent by Konoha, baka," Shizen smirked. "Can't you tell?" She pointed to her mask.

Kankuro laughed, but couldn't fight the urge to stare at her new outfit, a small blush coming to his face, "S-sugoi!"

Temari twitched; she got out her fan and hit him on the head. She turned to Shizen, "Sumimasen, Shizen-chan! Kankuro should learn to watch his tongue." She threw him a nasty look that caused him to recoil in fear.

Shizen sighed, "Iie, daijobu, Temari-chan. Miko looks like this, too."

Kankuro's eyes lit up, "Nani-jan?!"

Afterwards, Kankuro had some minor blood loss and another large lump on his head (from yours truly, Temari) and Gaara calmly sipped his tea, only to burn his tongue – oh, the pain.

Shizen smiled, "It's nice of you to show me around Sunagakure like this, Gaara-kun. Arigato gozaimasu."

"Do itashimashite, you showed me around Konoha," Gaara casually stated.

Shizen took the chance to look at the new and more mature Gaara. He was taller, although she was still a deal taller than him. His maroon hair had grown out longer and was in a rather stylish cut. He was clad in a red-maroon color similar to the outfit that he wore the last time she saw him, but now, he had a flowing robe that opened at the legs. His pants underneath were black and had purple rings on them: two on the right leg and one on the left. Instead of a white sash to hold up his gourd, he had a purple vest with buckles that had two small rings that wrapped around his waist. She then looked up at his eyes – they were still that mysterious grey-sea green color, but they had lost that hateful glimmer that she had first seen when they met during the Chuunin Exams. Instead, they were serene and peaceful, but they were still full of a certain sadness that only Naruto, and possibly maybe her on some level, would understand.

Shizen smirked, "You've matured, Gaara-kun."

He closed his eyes, crossing his hands at his chest, "…" He sent her a look that said, 'What's-that-supposed-to-mean?'

"I was just saying, mataku…" Shizen shook her head, laughing.

The two of them were walking through the quaint streets of Sunagakure, which reminded Shizen faintly of Konoha. She turned to Gaara, "Ano… what are we going to do today, Gaara-kun?"

A small pause, "It's… getting close to lunchtime. We could…"

Shizen smiled, her ocean blue eyes shining with gladness, "Sure."

The two of them walked into a nice restaurant that reminded Shizen of Rai and her father's place back in Konoha. She sighed, 'It's been a while since I've eaten there… I'll be sure to visit them next time.'

The waitress (who was falling asleep) suddenly woke up and snapped to attention at the sight of the Kazekage. She stumbled, "K-Kazekage-sama? S-sumimasen! R-right th-this way, k-kudasai!" She escorted them to a small booth at the back that had plush seats and a rather nice looking table – Shizen could see her reflection staring back at her from the shiny mahogany surface. The waitress then gave them menus and walked away.

Shizen opened her menu and looked over at Gaara, who was sitting across from her, "Are you always treated like this now?" She chuckled.

Gaara snorted, his eyes falling back to his menu, "You could say that."

Shizen's eyes skimmed over the words 'unagi' and she grinned with delight. Shizen had a certain fondness for unagi, one could say. The item was 'Special #7'; it had fresh pieces of unagi, hamachi, hotategai, saba, and various other pieces of fish. It was served with salad and miso soup as well as a heaping bowl of rice. She licked her lips – she would get that. She closed her menu and folded her arms on her lap, "Do you know what you're getting, Gaara-kun?"

He nodded, "Special #6."

The two of them stared at each other for quite some time.

Shizen, feeling his intent gaze on her, blushed and looked down at her hands, 'Why am I suddenly feeling this way? When I was younger, I didn't feel like this… why now? It's like I have…butterflies in my stomach.'

Gaara looked at her, raising a non-existent eyebrow, 'Nan deska?' Then, 'that' feeling came back again. He winced; the last time he had ever felt like this was after he had kissed Shizen and was traveling through the infamous forests of Konohagakure no Sato. He didn't like it, honestly. It was as if he was nauseous and sick – it was icky.

The feeling disappeared for both of them when the waitress came back to take their orders and gave them wipes to wipe their hands so they could be clean.

Shizen tried to make casual conversation, "So… how's it like being Kazekage?"

"… It's… different. You're deciding all of the decisions for the whole village."

Shizen nodded, "Isn't it stressful? And with all the paperwork…?"

Gaara heaved a great sigh, "Ee."

The two of them suddenly broke out in laughter.

Their food had arrived. Shizen muttered the words, "Itadakimasu," and dug into her large plate of sashimi. She let out a moan – it was heavenly. The fish was fresh and was sweet and succulent. She took a sip of her miso soap and sighed. She then moved onto the salad, on top of which was the dressing that she loved oh so very much.

Gaara couldn't help but crack a small smile watching Shizen eat. He could understand, though – this was probably the first time she had eaten in a long time. He slowly began to eat his own meal. His thoughts sadly thinking of the paperwork he would have to do after his outing with Shizen.

For the next ten minutes or two, the two shinobi ate in silence.

After Shizen had finished her meal, she took a long sip of green tea and sighed, looking back at Gaara who had done the same.

"So… where do you wanna go now, Gaara-kun?"

She received a shrug in response.

"You could show me around some more… if you want to," she offered.

Gaara decided to do just that.

Gaara yawned, "So that's basically the whole village." He crossed his arms on his chest, "Any questions?"

Shizen raised her hand.

Gaara chuckled, "Hai, Shizen?"

Shizen pointed to a large group of girls behind Gaara, "Who're they?"

'They' happened to be a large group of 'fan girls' who were screaming at the top of their lungs, "AISHITERU, GAARA-SAMA!"

Shizen's right eye twitched, "You have fan girls?" She couldn't seem to make up in her mind whether the situation was funny or disturbing.

Gaara blinked at the word, "W-what are fan girls?"

"W-wait, you have a group of girls running around wanting to bear your children and yet you don't know what they're called?!" (AN: xD)

Gaara shrugged, "Whatever. Just… what do they do?"

Shizen was about to explain more about the stupidity and utter aggravation of fan girls when one of the girls looked at her and shouted, "GAARA-SAMA'S WITH A GIRL!"

All of them seemed to stop what they were doing and glare at Shizen, anger boiling in their eyes.

Shizen swallowed and took a step back. She then mentally shook her head, 'Wait, what am I doing? They're just harmless fan girls! What can they do?'

Then, the large group of girls charged at her, froth coming out of their mouths, yelling, "GAARA-SAMA IS MINEEEEEEEEE!"

Shizen turned blue, 'I stand corrected.'

Gaara blinked; the sheer stupidity of the situation was unreal. He created a Suna no Tate (Sand Shield) around the two of them.

Shizen winced when she heard a series of dull thuds outside of the Suna no Tate. She heaved a sighed and looked at Gaara, uneasy, "How long do you think we'll be in here?"

There was a loud screech from outside, "I'M GONNA GET YOU, GAARA-SAMA! IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO! I WILL HAVE YOUR BABIESSSS!"

Gaara looked rather disturbed from the whole ordeal. He blinked, eyes wide with shock, "Hopefully not very long."

When the two of them returned to Gaara's office, Kankuro asked them, "So how'd the date go?"

Gaara and Shizen both looked at each other and then winced, eyes twitching, turning blue, and feeling slightly ill.

Kankuro looked alarmed, "Oi! Oi! Daijobu-jan? Oi!" He looked at the two of them, confused, 'What in the world happened to them?'

Temari came into the room, "What's wrong, Kankuro?" She looked at the rather unwell appearances of Shizen and Gaara and ran towards them, "Gaara! Shizen-chan! Nan deska?!"

Gaara sat down in his chair, shuddering. Shizen sat in a chair opposite from him, muttering incoherent things about being highly disturbed and even more mentally scarred for the rest of her life.

Temari then appeared with two large glasses of tea, giving one to Shizen and Gaara. She sat next to Shizen, "Tell us what happened, Shizen-chan."

Shizen gulped her tea down. She then gave it to Temari, who was rather shocked that one could chug tea. Shizen looked at Gaara, who nodded his head. Shizen sighed, "We were attacked… by fan girls."

Kankuro, who was eating his favorite food, a cheeseburger, swallowed his food down the wrong pipe and then proceeded to cough. Once he had recovered, he gasped out, "WHAT?!"

Gaara nodded, "We were. I then used a Suna no Tate to protect us both. But, when we thought it was over… we were wrong." He shivered, taking another sip of his tea, praying that its soothing properties would kick in now – and fast.

(Flashback)

Shizen sighed, "I think we'll be safe now, Gaara-kun."

Gaara nodded and released the suna shield only to find that the fan girls were in fact still there.

One of them had the nerve to walk up to Shizen and look her straight in the eye, "Who do you think you are, girl? You're not from Sunagakure so why are you here?"

Shizen's right eye twitched, she fought to keep a level head, "For your information, I am an oi-nin from Konohagakure who was sent here to assassinate two missing-nin from our village."

The girl frowned, "Oh. By the way you're dressed, I thought you were something else."

The other fan girls gasped, some of them erupted into small fits of laughter. Gaara resisted the urge to use one of his attacks on the girl – it took a great deal of effort to do so.

Shizen, on the edge of straggling this girl until she died or worse, said, teeth clenched, "Is that so?" She closed her eyes and then opened them, revealing her Jigokugan eyes.

The fan girl looked at her in fear and, much to Shizen's glee, fell over in shock, drool coming out of her mouth. Shizen smirked at this, 'She probably would have wet her pants by now, ne?'

The fan girls, enraged that this girl from Konohagakure had defeated one of their own by just looking at her, charged at Shizen.

Shizen gulped and looked at Gaara, "W-What do we do now, Gaara-kun?"

Gaara grabbed her arm and pulled her in the opposite direction. He explained to her while they ran for dear life, "If I wasn't the Kazekage, and if I didn't meet Uzumaki Naruto, I would have killed them where they stood. Unfortunately, I would be impeached if I killed my own people."

A kunai whizzed by Gaara's head, taking a strand of hair with it. Gaara's eyes were wide.

There was a, "YOU ALMOST HIT GAARA-SAMA YOU BAKA! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO AIM FOR THE GIRL, NOT HIM! LET ME DO IT!"

Shizen swore, she got out one of her senbon needles and threw it at the girl, connecting with her hand. The girl winced and tried to move her hand. She gasped, "I can't move it!"

Shizen faced forward again. Gaara nodded, "Nice throw." Shizen shrugged, "I can't kill anyone so… I did the next best thing. She'll be alright."

The two of them continued to run.

After about ten minutes, Shizen was starting to feel a little tired. She looked back, seeing that some of the fan girls were still going after her, "Do they know when to quit?"

Gaara sighed heavily, "It would seem… no." He then stopped running and faced them.

Shizen stopped looking back, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to slow them down a bit." He moved his hands up, causing a sand wall to be formed between him and the fan girls. He smirked, that would slow them down. He then turned to Shizen and kept running, "The main building can't be much far from here. We can rest there."

(End Flashback)

Gaara sighed, "And here we are now."

Temari looked at Gaara, shocked at the story. Kankuro's eyes were as wide as saucers and his jaw was hanging a mile.

Temari sighed, "Well, we can't change what happened. Let's just move on." She turned to Shizen, "Tsunade-sama has decided that you shall go back with me to Konoha tomorrow."

Shizen nodded, "I need a place to stay, though."

Temari shrugged, "You can stay with us."

Temari opened the door, "It's nothing much, but it's home."

Shizen looked around, "Wow."

Unlike Konoha, most of the walls and floor were made of sand. There was a living room, dining room, kitchen, a garden, and four rooms. Temari passed three doors that Shizen assumed were Gaara's, Kankuro's, and Temari's, respectively. Temari then opened the last door and smiled, "This… is your room."

Shizen stepped into the room and smiled; it was a rather nice place, reminding Shizen slightly of her own apartment. There was a bed, vanity, on-looking window, a dresser, a table next to the bed, and she had her own bathroom. Shizen turned to Temari and bowed, "Arigato gozaimasu."

Temari rolled her eyes, "Whatever, don't say that you're in my debt, either. I don't care." She threw Shizen a pair of clothes, "Here, they're to sleep in. I doubt that you would want to sleep in your mission clothes, ne?" Temari laughed. Her laugh then turned into a yawn, "I'm going to bed. If ya need anything, I'm in the room right across from yours, alright?"

Shizen nodded, closing the door. She then proceeded to get undressed, folding her clothes and putting them on the table and putting all of her weapons and things on top of it. She then put on the teal tank top and blue sweats Temari had given to her.

Shizen sighed, falling down on the bed on her back and looking out the window. There was a full moon. Shizen yawned, getting into the covers. She turned on her side and fell into a dreamless sleep.