A.N. Okay so just a note... this story will be drawing to a close (not telling you how many more chapters) but now shamelessly advertising a new story Shinobi Rebellion. Another collaboration between beccabandicoot and I. Please do check it out, it's slightly different to this story but we would both appreciate any thoughts that you have on it :D

We had been switching Abbie every few hours but now even she had grown tired of it, her eyes dropping and her snores finally being heard as the sun had set. That's when we decided to stop for the night at one of the local inns, Gaara paying because we told him he had to. The rooms were nice enough and extremely comfortable, I flopped onto the floor and let out a sigh, "Man it feels good to finally sit down."

"You said it," Manny sat beside me and took her jacket off so she could spread her wings fully, "I hate being all cooped up for so long."

"This sucks."

"I totally agree."

I blew my bangs off my face but they fell straight back down, "These are annoying, why did they even do this?"

"I guess they felt bad about us leaving? Bribery? Something like that."

"Seems like a waste of time to me."

"I second that motion."

Sasori chuckled lightly and handed us a couple of sandwiches, "You two aren't very girly are you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that normal girls like having their make-up done and new clothes, you two complain."

"We're not normal Sasori, see the wings?"

"I see them."

I laughed at the not-yet-official couple as Gaara sat next to me, "Before I forget I think I ruined the plan."

"What do you mean?"

"Ah, doesn't matter."

"Hey Gaara," Manny gave me an evil look of terror before turning back to Gaara, "did you know that Twigg is in love with you, I certainly hope you feel the same way."

"I do."

The fuck‼

"Huh?"

He placed his hand on mine and put his head on my shoulder, "Do you have a problem with it?"

"Ah…I…we…um…" Manny mumbled just as surprised as I was.

He laughed and sat back up, "I think the plan would've still worked but I think I've ruined it now."

Why that sneaky little…"Yeah, thanks a lot for that. Well we're friends now so I guess it doesn't matter all that much that you ruined it, but I would appreciate a bit of warning next time you decide to do something like that."

"Didn't like my surprise?"

"Not really no."

Manny stopped being flabbergasted and finally caught onto the conversation, "Wait what plan?"

"Hm? Oh, to stop you from being mad at her Elishia and I came up with the plan to make you 'help get us together'. It seems to have worked just fine."

"So you guys don't like each other in that way?"

"No."

"Well you suck."

I smiled satisfactory and gave Gaara a high five, we were one awesome team.

We had been walking for what seemed like forever, this stupid detour was taking too long, then again, I was the one who requested it. I was still slightly annoyed at Twig after telling everyone I was dating Sasori, then tricking us into going on what she thought was a date, and finally for lying about Gaara so that I wouldn't be mad at her, but her stupid plan backfired and now I was just really irritated.

I hung back while they walked ahead. Abbie was sitting on Twigg's shoulders and trying to grab the leaves whenever we passed any lower branches.

Sasori noticed me lagging behind and stopped until I caught up.

"Why are you back here?"

"I'm peeved at Twigg."

"I don't blame you."

"She keeps doing stupid stuff and I'm stuck with the consequences."

"Maybe you're just more mature? But the whole mess is over now, just let it go."

I thought about this. "You're right. I have to get her back."

"That's not what I said, in fact, that's the opposite of what I said."

"You're going to help me."

"Lucky me."

"She wants us to date so bad? Then we'll date."

"What?"

"That's payback right? She thinks we're dating, like she wanted, then we tell her we're not and she gets all disappointed."

"I see."

"And then we push her in a river."

"A river?"

"Yeah, she'll hate it."

"You haven't done this before have you?"

"Once, I pushed her off a building. Now look like we're dating."

"I don't know how to do that."

I paused. "Me either."

"Well that plan failed."

"We can still push her in a river."

"I'm fine with that, are there any rivers nearby?"

"I'm not sure, but there is one between here and the next town."

"Awesome."

Twigg looked back at us plotting our evil scheme, I saw her smile.

She won't be smiling for long.

Manny was so pissed at me, I could see it in her face, but she wouldn't do anything about it. She loves me too much. I could also see Sasori watching her with a close eye, he was so into her. Why couldn't she see it?

It was so obvious.

"Hey you," Gaara noticed that he was in front of everyone so he waited for me to catch up, "what's on your mind?"

"Why do you say that?"

"You have a smug smile on that only leads to trouble for a lot of people."

"I'm just thinking how cute Sasori and Manny are together, I mean he obviously likes her and she likes him. Why can't they see it?"

"You're starting to become a hypocrite, I bet that she's thinking the same thing."

"No, she knows that we're just friends now."

"You really are an idiot."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," he headed off the trail and towards as small river, "let's stop for lunch."

"Okay…"

I put Abbie down and waved the two love birds down for food. However Manny didn't sit with us, she sat on the river bank with a pout on her face. Oh crap she's upset. I walked over and crouched down beside her, "Hey Manny, are you okay?"

"I guess, it's just…"

"Just what? Manny?"

I felt a hand on my back, she was really upset. That was until I felt myself moving forwards towards the water…

"MANNY‼"

"Have a nice swim."

"Damn you Manny!" Twigg yelled

I looked down on her from the river bank and laughed, she was completely soaked and her tail was standing on end.

"Cold cold cold." She said as she jumped out of the river. "What did you do that for?"

"Payback."

"For what?"

"Everything!" I laughed, "I feel better now."

Her ears flattened against her head in anger, "Oh you are so gonna get it."

"No, we're even now, if you do anything then you're just starting it up again."

"Ok ok fine, hug?" she said, holding out her arms.

"No way."

"Come on, give me a hug."

"No get away ah!" I screamed as she leapt forwards and wrapped her arms around me. "Get off you're cold and wet!"

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

I squirmed out of her grasp and jumped into the air, landing in the top branches of a tall tree.

She raced up after me.

Sasori and Gaara sighed from down below.

"You were right." Gaara sighed, "They're going to be like this the whole way there."

"If we're lucky, they'll probably be running around the Sand village after each other." Sasori replied

"Should be interesting."

My turn Mansfield…

I watched the blonde-haired-cat-girl-into-river-pusher from my spot at the back of the group, we were in the desert now and I still had to pay her back from pushing me into the river. She wasn't going to get away with this without any consequence. I just had limited resources at the moment.

Unless…

Sasori was carrying Abbie so she was safe from harm's way, or my way. I slowly moved behind Manny and crouched onto all fours, waiting until she was busy in a conversation before pouncing on her and really making sure to push her face into the sand. I quickly jumped away so I could see the damage I had caused, and the mess was clear the minute saw the walking sand monster before me. She spat out her mouthful of sand and gave me the devil's stare.

"I'm going to kill you."

"Don't push me into water, I hate water."

"I'm going to kill you so dead your mother will feel it."

"Hey! Leave my mummy out of this."

"I will bring in your mummy where ever I see damned well fit."

"Oh Mr Sandman, bring me a dream," I started singing to her, "give me the cutest that I've ever seen."

"Fine have him," she pushed Gaara at me with a smirk that quickly turned to a frown, "wait…"

"Oh…I see, you and Gaara huh?"

"I'ma kill you real bad."

I just laughed loudly and hid behind the Kage, "Gaara protect me."

"From what?"

"The sandman."

"Fine," he grabbed my hand and kept us heading towards the village, Manny couldn't do anything because she was too busy getting sand out of everywhere.

I gave Gaara's hand a small squeeze, "Tell me I'm awesome."

"You're awesome, can I have my free will back now?"

"No, tell me I'm amazing."

"You're amazing."

"Tell me I'm…beautiful."

"You're beautiful."

"You are just so sweet, you know that."

"Yes, I know that."

"Okay you can have your free will back now."

"Thank Kami."

I spat more sand out of my mouth and shook it out of my hair and clothes.

"Eugh, I'm going to kill her."

"You did push her into a river." Sasori said

"Don't defend her! She started it!"

"Ok, sorry." He said, holding his hands up in defence, "Just please tell me you're not going to-"

"I'm going to get her back."

"-do exactly that" he sighed.

I continued shaking the sand off me while I walked and plotted my revenge against Elishia.

"I got it." I said and searched through my bag for the small pouch hidden at the bottom, luckily, it was still there. "I am so gonna mess with her head and she won't even know it."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Ever heard of a little herb called catnip?"

We arrived in the Sand without a hitch, and entered the village. Gaara rushed off to do his Kazekage stuff after showing us to our rooms.

"You know Twigg, I was thinking something." I said

"Hm?"

"When we get back home, what the hell are we going to tell everyone?"

"I have no idea, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Guess you're right, anyway, now that we're here, what do we do now?"

"We could resume our ninja training?"

"I'm not going back to Temari." I objected, "Not that she'd offer to train me anyway."

"No one says you have to." Twigg replied

"But then who's gonna train me? I don't wanna sit around on my butt all day."

"If you wanted." Sasori spoke up, "I could."

"Seriously? You'd help me out?" I asked, ignoring Twigg's stupid smirk

"Sure, plus I'm interested in what you said about your chakra."

"What about her chakra?" she asked

"Oh right, I never managed to tell you." I said

"Tell me what?"

"Turns out we're special, our chakra is in all forms of the elements, though I don't know why, or how."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"Cool. I guess I'll keep training with Gaara and you guys ca-" her head shot up suddenly, "You smell that?"

"Smell what?" I asked, suppressing a laugh.

"Oh...nothing, I'm just gonna…go…there's a…yeah." She mumbled and wandered out the door.

"Was this part of your revenge?" Sasori asked, once she had gone.

"Yeah, I kinda accidentally got her addicted to the stuff."

"So where did you hide it?"

"I didn't have much left, so I rubbed it on the walls leading down the hall, she's going to follow the trail all the way to a conference room full of important shinobi, that should provide some entertainment for today."

"When did you do all this?"

"Before Gaara showed us to our rooms, when I asked to use the bathroom."

Sasori grinned, "You are pure evil."

"Hey, she shoved my head in sand."

"So should we follow her?"

I smiled, "let's go."

We followed her from a distance, watching as she ran down the hallway, keeping close to the wall, even from this distance I knew she was probably sniffing around like crazy.

We crept forward as she traced the scent down the stairs and into another hallway. Then she came to a door. Her tail wagging in excitement.

We watched as she burst through, and suddenly there was a very awkward silence. I bit my tongue, trying to hold back my laughter, as I saw her being dragged out of the room by Gaara, apologizing over and over.

"Come on quickly." I whispered and we ran back to our rooms and fell laughing on the bed.

"I think you win this round." Sasori said

"Thank you, I'm rather proud of that, maybe now she'll learn not to mess with me." I replied.

"They're coming." Sasori said

"Act natural." I ordered, and sat up, "Quick talk about something."

"Uhh…how about your lessons? Do you still want me to teach you?"

"Yeah, thanks for offering by the way." I replied as Gaara strode into the room, Twigg at his heels with her head hanging low.

"What was that?" Gaara asked

"I'm sorry." She replied quietly, "I don't know what happened, I just…" she trailed off, then glared at me, "You." She growled.

"Huh? What's up guys?" I asked innocently

"What did you do? Did you-" she gasped, "Catnip!" she yelled

"I'm sorry what? I have no idea who left a catnip trail leading you to a full conference to get revenge on you." I replied

"Oh you are so dead."

"Gotta catch me first." I said and jumped out the window, quickly followed be Twigg.

I watched her fall down and land on her feet in the street below, then glided around and landed back in the room through the window, laughing.

"You realise she won't forget this." Gaara warned.

"Yeah I know, but I couldn't resist."

"Well next time, leave the elders out of it, they don't like being interrupted." He said, and left to return to his conference.

I laughed, at least until Sasori told me that Twigg was running up the stairs.

"Wanna go chill somewhere she can't reach until she cools off?" I asked

"Sure, why not." He said.

I grabbed him by the arm and jumped out the window again, flying to one of the tallest buildings where we sat down and watched Twigg running through the streets looking for me.

"I wonder how she will retaliate." Sasori wondered.

"Should be interesting." I mused.

I was forced to keep to myself for the rest of the day thanks to Mansfield's stupid trick with the catnip, and it didn't help that the smell was still everywhere. But I had a plan, and this one was going to end all of this nonsense. Thanks to a bit of poison from Kankuro I think we're going to have a very interesting dinner.

"Gaara I'm really sorry, I just go crazy whenever I smell that stuff."

"Well that's a huge weakness, we're going to get you off that stuff before Normand and his friends can find out about it."

"I…I never thought of that."

"Well I did," he gave Manny a small look as she came in and caught onto the conversation, "and therefore you are not going to leave this village until we sort out your addiction, I'm not going to let you get caught because of something so stupid."

"Agreed."

Manny started to look guilty but that was all her fault anyway, now I just had to wait for her to take one bite. Just one little bite and the fun would begin. I watched in anticipation as she put a little grain of rice in her mouth then started on my own meal. Of course the poison was going to take a bit of time to get into her system but I have a feeling that it was going to be well worth the wait. So until then I turned back to continue my conversation with Gaara, "How are we going to break my habit then?"

"I'll think of a way, don't worry pretty kitty, you have nothing to worry about now."

"Thank you so much, oh, Sasori when are you and Manny going to start training?"

"Soon I hope very soon, Rebecca?"

She fluttered her eyelids softly at him and leant on one hand, "Yes?"

"Um…when do you want to start training?"

"Whenever you want to Sasori."

"Tomorrow then," he gave her a weary glance before getting back to his meal.

Noticing my smirk, Gaara leant over to whisper, "What exactly did you do?"

"Kankuro gave me a special poison just for her," I replied just as quietly.

"Poison?"

"Don't worry, completely harmless."

"Then what does it do?"

"Makes her well…you'll see."

Mansfield was very distracted throughout the rest of the meal, answering questions thrown her way with very simple answers and never taking her eyes off of Sasori. At the end of the meal we all got out of our seats except thanks to the poison Manny was a lot clumsier than usual. She tripped over her chair but luckily Sasori caught her, lucky for me.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded softly and stared into his eyes, any romantic could see what was going to happen next. As the two straightened up Manny kept going until their lips met, their first kiss and just like I thought Sasori was happy to kiss her back. I had to bite my hand to stop my laughter from coming out while Gaara gave me a small look.

"That kind of poison?"

"Mhm, she thinks she's in a dream where they're in love with each other."

"She's going to hate you."

"She'll get over it."