I healed quickly, my wounds scabbing over and my bruises fading. After a couple of weeks or so I was ready to get back in shape. I felt the need to train, to exercise after my hiatus and being sedentary, so I went to the training grounds. Interestingly enough, I ran into Gaara on the training fields, and I figured he must be feeling the same way as me.
Most people were still nervous around him, not as scared as before but still definitely stand-offish so he had the training fields all to himself. Which was kind of nifty, because that meant I had bunches of room to work with as well. So I joined him, both of us doing our own separate training.
I was experimenting with wind chakra and forming various weapons, such as wind blades, and trying to figure out how to recreate some sort of lance that I could throw, when I was rudely interrupted. Out of nowhere I was suddenly in the middle of an unexpected sand shower, seemingly a buckets-worth of sand having just been dumped over my head.
I sputtered, spitting sand out of my mouth and shook my head to dispel the remnants from my hair. Knowing who the culprit must be I glared over my shoulder at Gaara, who was training about ten feet away from me.
He was in the middle of manipulating his sand, sending thick ribbons of the sediment to lift huge rocks out of the ground and high into the air where he would drop and catch them again before they hit the ground, really taxing his control over the sand and working on his speed and reflexes. I huffed, supposing that he must have accidently sent a spray my way and hadn't even noticed, so I simply turned back to my wind lance.
I was essentially doing the same thing as my wind blade, forcing so much chakra into the wind that it sharpened, but I was trying to extent it a little, making the tip longer and sharper.
I didn't get very far because a glob of sand smacked me in the back of my head, exploding and sending sand everywhere, even forcing its way down the back of my shirt this time. I yelped, and hopped up and down a little, trying to get all the sand out of my shirt. It was downright uncomfortable and started sticking to my sweaty skin, making it itch.
I gave up on trying to shake all the sand out, now that it was stuck to me, and turned fully to glare at Gaara again, sure that it must have been intentional this time. I stared, bemused as he continued training, seeming oblivious. I was growing highly suspicious, never knowing him to lose control of even an ounce of his sand, so how was it that several buckets worth had randomly been sent my way? It couldn't be a coincidence.
I squinted my eyes and slowly turned back around, silently vowing that if I had one more uncalled for sand bath I would get him back. It didn't take long before I was shaking sand out of my hair and shirt again, having had another mass of sand smack me. I didn't turn around this time, but instead closed my eyes and infused some of my chakra into the wind. I sent it above my head, using my senses to locate Gaara behind me, and carefully directed it towards him.
I used a good amount of force and blew the wind directly at him, throwing in a little spiral to make a mini cyclone around him, blowing dirt and sand into his face and completely making him lose focus.
His rock fell to the ground with a "kurthunk" as he shielded his face from the wind, his sand whipping around and probably only making things worse. I stopped the cyclone less than a minute later, not wanting to torture him too much. He spat out the dirt particles in his mouth and rubbed his eyes. He sent a slanty eyed look over his shoulder at me that was both annoyed and amused.
I had a brief impression of his hand flicking up and barely a second to mutter "oh shit" knowing that I had some sand coming my way from somewhere. A large amount swatted me on the lower back and butt. Forcing me forward a few stumbling steps. I huffed and then laughed, "Oh you've done it now Gaara! Challenge accepted!"
I assumed a battle stance, facing him. I wiggled my fingers at him in the universal, "bring it on" gesture. He smirked and crossed his arms, which actually was his battle stance, a lazy posture and crossed arms. I had seen it so many times now that I recognized it immediately.
I leapt forward, forcing chakra to my feet and using my Telaria Jutsu right out of the gate, darting towards him at impossible speeds. He sent a wave of sand in front of him, creating a shield. I simply ran up the wall of sand, feeling it trying to grab my feet, but I kept it off with the wind beneath the soles of my feet that I was using for my speedy flight. The sand curled up on either side of me, boxing me in. I shoved my palms out sideways, sending wind out on either side of me to shove the sand back, but it was persistent.
I leapt over the sand wall a moment before the sand grabbed me, and found myself much higher than I had expected.
"Oh shit!" I barely had enough time to activate one of my newer jutsus, one that was still incomplete and had quite a few kinks left to iron out. I suppose I could have just sent out a gust of wind to cushion my fall, but I was feeling like making a bit of a bang. I formed the hand sign I had designed, pulling my wind chakra to my back. It was difficult because I had to force it into a specific pattern, overlapping sheets of wind to get the right lift. It used so much of my chakra that the wings sprouting from my back were tinted a light blue, and crackled almost like that Uchiha kid's Chidori.
It activated barely seconds from impact, exploding from my back with the sound like a clap of thunder and enough force that a huge dust cloud was blown into the air, knocking Gaara back a good few paces. I had a brief impression of his huge eyes and shocked face, before he cocooned himself in his sand shield to protect himself from the vast backlash of wind.
This was one of the kinks I had been trying to smooth out, the power behind the activation tended to knock anyone within 50 feet of me onto their asses. That would make it very difficult to use around comrades in a battle situation. But it did make for a pretty dramatic flair, which I couldn't help but be a little smug at.
Well, this was technically training, as unexpected as this sparring match had been, and it would help me to work on this particular jutsu. I just hoped it lasted long enough and didn't fizzle out as it sometimes did, leaving me to somehow catch myself from falling.
After the dust had settled, Gaara's shield cracked like and egg and sifted to the ground around him, in that bad ass way of his. I shifted the wind a tad, hovering a few inches from the ground, and now that the initial blast had subsided my chakra wings only kicked up a little dust.
I smirked at Gaara, who still looked a little shocked, his eyes flickering over the crackling wings sprouting gracefully from my back. He quickly composed his expression back to his normal blank slate, one non-existent brow cocked a little. His stance shifted and he jabbed one arm forwards into the air, sending out a stream of sand in front of him, a stream that he gracefully jumped on, appearing to surf on the sand as it rose through the air. It was certainly more impressive than his usual sand platform that he usually rode, this stream of sand constantly shifting. He crossed his arms and gracefully held his balance atop the ribbon of undulating sand, using mostly his legs and hips to stay upright instead of his arms like a normal person. It almost looked like he was riding on a huge flying snake, which gave me an idea.
I filed away my idea to tell Gaara later, since now was not the time for talking. I wanted to try out this new jutsu of mine, and it typically didn't last too long, yet another kink. I had never used it in a battle situation, so I wanted to see how well I could keep it together while also having to block an opponent's attacks, since it took a huge amount of concentration on my part to keep the wings together and operating smoothly.
I flew close to him, blocking his sand with a gust of wind, which gave me an idea. I would need to train harder to try and gain more mobility of my wings, because it would be nice if I could use them to block without losing altitude. But trying it now would be stupid.
It was a true exercise to have to shift this way and that, my manipulation of the air currents in and around my wings having to be finely tuned to make the quick adjustments needed to dodge his speedy attacks. I was still a little clumsy, and took a few blasts of sand to the face for my trouble. But I still managed to get close enough to Gaara for hand to hand combat, which was my goal.
I threw a punch which he dodged, but only barely, his Taijutsu still not his strong suite. I taunted him, "You know you kind of suck when it comes to throwing punches Gaara." Actually, come to think of it, I don't think I ever have seen him do any sort of physical attack. Interesting.
Intrigued, my new goal became to try and make him actually attempt to punch me. This close, the brisk wind from my wings was throwing off his sand just a little, making it easier for me to keep it off with a wind shield.
I threw another punch, aiming for his jaw, while also throwing a low punch aimed for his gut. I also threw in a little wind chakra, to try and force my way through the sand that I knew would block my punches. Sure enough, my fists hit solid sand, but by upping the power behind the wind blanketing my fists, I was able to disperse some of it.
I was still fighting his sand, not him. I felt my Wing Jutsu flicker and dropped alarmingly, managing to slow myself before I hit the ground, and then my wings shattered. This was where the other big problem came in. I quickly yelled, "Use your shield!" grateful to see Gaara respond quickly. A second after my wings shattered, there was a gap in space left behind, the intense chakra that had been there suddenly dispersed in an explosion, sending wind and sparks in every direction.
Whoops.
Well, it still wasn't finished, so a few explosions were expected.
After the destruction had subsided Gaara descended in his sand bubble and once again emerged, this time with a somewhat bemused expression. "Does it always do that?" he inquired.
"Um … yeah usually, I'm still working on that." I chuckled slightly embarrassed.
End of Chapter 29
Author's Note:
There's only one song for this chapter because I decided to stick with the one song I listened to on repeat while writing the chapter. I don't know why, but I just got into one of those I LOVE THIS SONG moments. It seemed to fit. Anyways, hope you liked the new chapter!
Music:
Shatter Me by Lindsey Sterling (on loop)
