I'm a bad person. I've been distracted between school, work, and video games. Oh and I forgot the disclaimer... in case any of you thought otherwise, no, I don't own Naruto. Thank you for reading, sorry for the delay.

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Silver Streams

Are you Insane like me

It was a good number of hours later, after night had rolled in, that another team arrived.

"Ai," Hayate kicked the corner of her bed. "There's another team."

"I'm up, I'm up," she groaned, flipping off her sheets. She ruffled her hair before grabbing, most of, it and pulling it into a high ponytail. Ai shuffled out the door, heading for the entrance room that the new team would be waiting in. Abel clacked his metal shoulders, telling her which room she was looking for and reprimanding her for not asking in the first place.

"Yeah, yeah," she said to him. "Why ask when I know you'll tell me." He clattered his disapproval, but not his disagreement she noted.

Ai went downstairs and headed in the correct direction, thanks to Abel. She did have to make a slight detour to avoid the Sand team, which wasn't hard; she knew all the hidden passages. It seemed they had apparently decided to do a little exploring on their own.

Pulling open the appropriate door, she revealed Team Kurenai. She felt brief satisfaction at being able to predict their early arrival.

"Welcome to Tower –" she stopped talking. The team was huddled close together watching the dog curled up in the Inuzuka's jacket. Her words had caught their attention though and the group turned towards her.

Physically they looked like they hadn't had a rough time of it in the woods. Mentally however, it looked like they had seen the gates of hell open up and swallow someone whole.

Sandpaper over wood. Screaming. Red rain, thick and warm.

Ai winced at the sound, but it had certainly lent the theory some credibility.

She supposed she could put off the whole 'she-was-an-unpleasant-person' show she'd been asked to run.

"If you follow me, I can take you somewhere you all can rest."

They approached her and Kiba spoke as they neared, "You're the girl from the first exam."

"I see I make an impression."

"I imagine it's hard not to, the way you behaved." Ai smirked at him and shrugged.

"Come along," she said, walking away. The sound of their footsteps followed. Ai turned around, walking backwards. "I'm going to give you all a heads up; the Sand shinobi beat you here." The three members of Team Kurenai exchanged quick looks. "I'm also going to say, I'd avoid them if I were you."

"Yeah, good idea," Kiba snorted. Ai cocked a brow. "We came across them in the forest," Kiba elucidated, "the red-headed one killed a Rain team without batting an eye. We thought they were going to kill us too." The dog whimpered.

"I see," she said distractedly, turning around to climb the stairs. The more she learned about this Gaara fellow the more concerned she got. When she'd first met them, she had certainly picked up that he was dangerous, what shinobi wasn't, but all the voices had been drowned out by the sound of, well now she figured it was sand, but at the time it had sounded like a rain stick. Fifty rain sticks. It'd been headache inducing.

Abel had said his chakra was shifting and unstable. Like sand, she supposed. Ai was picking up a theme with the kid. But would he really attack the people here? She couldn't be sure. Not one hundred percent anyway.

She'd also feel terrible if something did happen and she'd done nothing when she could have done something.

"…and now we've got to spend four days here with them!? Man, this sucks!" She hadn't even noticed Kiba talking. Was that bad?

Ai stopped on the second floor landing, forcing Team Kurenai to stop as well.

"Look," she started, "I'm not supposed to interfere, so I'm going to as passively and sneakily as I can. I'll put a watch on your door at night. However, I have stipulations. Don't wander alone and don't wander at night. There shouldn't be a problem during the day since everyone will be awake."

"H- How are you going to watch at night," it was the first time Hinata had spoken. "You need to rest sometime too."

"That's where Abel comes in."

"Abe-el," Kiba tested the name. Everyone tested the name. It wasn't remotely culturally near the naming scheme here. It had caused a number of interesting looks to be tossed in her direction, but she had been a child when she'd named him and it had felt… appropriate.

"We'll walk down this way; there are stairs at the other end. Sand picked Northern bunk room, so you guys will take the farthest from them," she continued walking.

"Y- You don't think they'd d-do something, do you?"

"I don't think they would," Ai glanced over her shoulder at the young team, "but I don't trust them not to. It's better to be safe than sorry, after all."

"Yeah, that Sand village squirt is bad news and way too dangerous to mess with."

Ai pushed open the door to the bunk room. As they passed she added, "Bathroom is the door we passed, on the left. Second floor has a mess hall and a communal area and bottom floor isn't really much, but through the big double doors is where you'll all meet up once the exam officially ends."

"T- Thank you," Hinata demurred, "for your help."

"Ah, um, don't mention it," Ai murmured then added stronger, "Seriously though, don't mention it. I'll get in trouble."

"Not a word," Kiba agreed.

Ai nodded. "Good. You thr- four," she corrected, remembering the dog – what was his name? – she'd have to check the files. "You four should get some rest."

The young Leaf team thanked her quietly, Shino nodding his head, as they moved further into the room. Ai closed the door after they'd passed, heading to the half wall across the way.

"Abel," she called softly. The metal cat dropped down from the floor above with nary a sound and looked at her. She didn't even need to say anything before the cat slid off the wall and circled in front of the door twice, sitting down to the side of the entrance like a komainu.

With a sigh, Ai headed back to bed. As she crawled back in she reached down into her bag and pulled out a thin, short metal rod. She held it in her hand, pushing her chakra into it, as she settled in to sleep.

Faint sound caught the attention, pulling from torpor. Facing upward. Small jump to the wall, only a few bounds to climb higher.

Gentle landing, flick of the tail, arriving in time to see the purple-haired one passing into room across the way. Odd look, pale skin.

Followed by two masked ones, radiating danger.

The beak-mask stops, turns, looks, sees. Shiver of limbs, tinkling of metal. Beak-mask turns away, slowly, follows others into room.

Return.

Slide down, back to guard. Silent on the wall.

Listen.

Dry rustle.

Red movement.

Sand appears down the way. Turns, looks, sees. Meet the gaze.

Chatter the teeth. Clack the ribs. You're not like the others.

Hold contact. Red Sand turns, leaves. Away from guard.

Quiet again.

The pulse of chakra running through Ai's hand woke her with a jolt. Anko had come in tonight? She was early, why? She shouldn't have been here for at least another day. Not only that, but she'd appeared exhausted and with members of Anbu. What in the world was going on outside the tower?

Also, worryingly, Gaara was wandering around. She didn't know if he had wanted to try anything, Abel hadn't sent anything about intentions, or if he had just heard the disturbance Anko had made arriving, either way, she'd continue to keep an eye on him. Just to be safe.

Ai sighed, sitting up. Why couldn't he have bothered sending this information later, when she had been awake. With all this tumbling around in her mind, she wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon. She tucked the metal rod back into her pack and got up. Changing into a set of training clothes Ai grabbed up her sword, an extra set of clothes, and left.

When she got to an upper floor training room she stripped off the thin beaded bracelet she wore. Once off, her chakra, which had been curled into a tight ball, released and spread out.

"Ah man," she moaned. "That feels so much better." Ai flexed her chakra pushing and pulling it. Sending it down limbs and letting it seep into the air around her just a bit. She tossed the chakra suppressing bracelet onto her extra set of clothes.

Ai drew her blade, Moon Shadow, and began her katas. She lost herself to them, the patterned movement and rhythmic breathing. Hayate had always said it was just as equal to meditation and he was right. The world fell away and troubles were forgotten. At least for the moment.

"You're up early," a voice said gently. "Trouble sleeping?"

"A bit," Ai replied, finished up. She sheathed her katana with a soft click. "Anko came in last night – well, early this morning."

Hayate didn't even bat an eye at her somehow knowing this information already. He was used to her knowing things she shouldn't. "Yes, she did, I've spoken with her already."

"Anything the rest of us should worry about?"

"Perhaps. A Grass genin team was found dead," Ai raised an eyebrow. Dead genin was hardly unusual. "They were found outside the training grounds and they were killed before the second exam began."

That would be the unusual bit then.

"I'd like you to keep an eye on in-coming genin for anything odd."

"Sure," Ai agreed. "Anything odd, like that Sand-genin, Gaara, wandering around at night?"

Hayate blinked slowly, which to anyone who knew him knew it was his equivalent to a sigh. "Keep an eye on him." Ai nodded her consent. "You might also be called on to," he coughed a couple of times, "-to follow someone, so keep prepared for that as well."

"I'll get my bugs then."

"It probably won't be until after the exam, but I figured I'd let you know."

"Thanks," Ai said as she gathered her stuff. She hooked her finger in the chakra-suppressing bracelet and started to twirl it on her finger. Even there, she could feel it beginning to pull at her chakra, which began to bubble and boil in response.

"You katas are looking better," Hayate finally spoke as they left the room together.

"They're feeling better," she replied, toweling at the sweat on the back of her neck.

A small smile graced his face. "We might make a swordsman out of you yet."

"I prefer swordswoman," Ai said flippantly, twisting her hand to get the bracelet to slide over her knuckles and onto her wrist. It was like someone had quenched the warmth of her chakra as it was forced back into that heavy weight within her gut. Nausea rose and she stopped, leaning a shoulder on the wall and a hand on her stomach. Hayate placed a hand on her back. "The worst part is putting it back on."

"Four more days, then you don't have to wear it again."

Ai took a few measured breaths until the worst of the feeling had passed. As she straightened Hayate gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Better?"

"Yeah," she breathed out. "I'm going to get cleaned up, then I'll find something to do around here."

Hayate nodded, releasing her shoulder. "I need to tell a few others what's happening. Eyes open," he added moving off.

"Yes, sir." He nodded once more before vanishing with a body flicker. When he was gone, Ai groaned. "Why can nothing ever be simple?" She went to go lean on the rib-high wall and stare down at the bottom floor four levels below. Even with the two teams here now, silence still ruled the tower.

It was as Ai stared out, that Abel – the eavesdropping nag that he was – he rattled his tail indignantly at her accusation – showed up. He climbed up from the floor below holding a cloth bag gently in his mouth, lest his teeth rip holes in the fabric. It jangled as he deposited it in her hand.

"Thanks," she murmured. Abel slid off the wall before walking behind her and putting his head into the side of her right knee to get her to start moving. She obeyed his push and made for the stairs so she could shower.

The water proved a good relaxer and washed away the remaining unpleasant feelings left by the chakra suppressor. She also, like any 'good ninja on duty,' only took a short shower, though she did crank the heat. Nothing like a hot shower to steam away your troubles.

Afterwards, finding nothing else to do – this really was a boring posting while the exam was still going – she moved on to making bread. She figured someone would find her if they needed anything.

It was nearing midday and while she was half-way through making a second loaf of challah bread, also not a thing here, that she heard a disturbance.

Said disturbance came in the sound of a bark by her feet. When she looked down, Kiba's white puppy was sitting a foot away staring at her.

"Well someone's slacked off," she said to the white puppy. His response was to look between her and the cooling loaf of her first bread sitting on the countertop. They stared at each other for another minute before Ai turned away with a huff. "I'm such a sucker for cute." She ripped a hunk off the end and crouched down in front of the small dog. "Akamaru, right?" she asked rhetorically. She'd gone and read the files of the passing teams just to refresh herself. Even so, Akamaru barked and moved forward, eating the bread out of her hand greedily. It only took a few bites before the bread was gone and her hand covered in saliva. "Technically that was interfering," she told the dog as she wiped the drool off on her pants. He only whined and looked at the loaf still sitting on the counter. "No, I'm putting my foot down this time. Let's go find that ninja of yours that apparently doesn't pay enough attention to you," she said standing.

Akamaru trotted behind her as she headed out of the room. She watched carefully as he plopped down the stairs clumsily, but made no move to pick him up, as cute as he was, he was still a nin-dog. One does not simply pick up a strange dog, especially one trained to fight.

Once back on the first floor, Akamaru took the lead, jogging in front of her. Ai followed, figuring he smelled Kiba. Her belief proved correct when she heard said ninja cry out.

"Akamaru! I've been looking for you everywhere!" The white pup took off at a sprint picking up speed before jumping up into Kiba's arms. When the boy looked back up from the dog he spotted Ai. His brows furrowed at the sight of her.

"He wandered into the employees only section," Ai explained.

"Oh," he said, rubbing Akamaru's head. "I can't really blame him. The smells coming from there are torturous." Ai gave a small smile. "Can't see and can't hear anything, but all the smells of your guy's food leaks out. It's driving us up the wall."

"Part of life, I suppose." Kiba raised an eyebrow so Ai expounded further. "People or things driving you up the wall; it's something you have to get used to in life."

"Right," he said slight confusion in his voice. He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped as Ai tilted her head, listening to a soft ring. She looked up at a voice.

"Juniper room, Ai," the ninja called down, unconcerned with the Genin that could neither see or hear him. She turned back to the young ninja. He had also been looking up where she had been, but the squint to his eyes and the twitch of his nose said that while he couldn't see the person up there, he had smelled them. Maybe that was something she should bring up for the next exam.

"I have some work I need to do, but I'm sure I'll be seeing you around," she said to him.

"Sure," he agreed.

Ai moved off, heading for Juniper room to meet whatever team had shown up. "What was his name?" she uttered to herself, thinking about the ninja who had called down from above. She'd seen him around a lot during the prep portions of the exam. She always wanted to call him Kotatsu, but that was the heating table, so she knew it was wrong. Unless, she supposed, his parents were just that mean.

The team waiting in Juniper turned out to be Team Guy. Two of them looked fine, but the third one in green spandex, Lee, she recalled, looked as if he had had his rear handed to him and firmly. She could hear a strange echoing sound around him which took her a moment to figure out that it was him and not just her ears ringing.

"Welcome to Tower Forty-Four," she intoned dully. "If you'll follow me, I show you the places you can go while in the tower. Ai moved to leave, but the three genin remained where they were. "Or stay here, no skin off my back." Either that was enough encourage them or they'd finally shaken themselves from whatever reverie they'd been lost in, Ai didn't really care, for they moved to follow her. Though, not without a narrow-eyed stare from one Neji Hyuga. He had apparently practiced it to perfection.

As they walked Ai talked, keeping up a steady stream of commentary. Ranging from asking if they had seen any unique life in the forest, like the drop bear, known for its surprise attacks from above and how she'd always wanted to see one, to the history of Tower Forty-Four, which she completely made up. "It was built during the Drop Bear Wars, you know, almost drove the species extinct, but that's all very hush-hush." Lee seemed fully enraptured, but the dead-eyed look of Tenten and Neji made the constant talking worth it.

The three genin remained steadfastly silent the whole way, Lee too enthralled to interrupted she supposed, and it wasn't until they reached the main chamber that Ai said something useful.

"Those doors down there will be where the passing teams will meet once the exam is officially over,"

"Can we check them out?" Tenten asked.

"Sure," Ai agreed with a shrug, "there's nothing there to really see, but by all means." She gestured to the door, figuring the strategist in Tenten wanted to scope out the next area. Not a bad idea, Ai supposed, though there really was nothing special about the room.

Ai fell into step by the trailing Neji; he gave her a look, but otherwise ignored her presence. When Tenten and Lee entered the room, Ai slid in front of him, stopping Neji from following his teammates. His eyebrow rose so elegantly at her that Ai felt a brief flash of jealousy over the graceful motion.

"I need to speak with you," she cut to the chase. "You might not want to, but I strongly suggest you bunk with your fellow Leaf-nin who have made it here already." He narrowed his eyes with a question that didn't need to be asked.

Why are you telling me this?

"There is a Sand team here as well and the youngest's chakra is… unstable. Safety in numbers, blah blah." When he didn't say anything back and only stared at her instead, Ai decided to leave. "I'm sure you can figure out the rest of the tower. It's not particularly difficult." It was as she turned away that he spoke.

"You're not a civilian." Ai faced him, crossing her arms and cocking her hip. "However, you are not a ninja either. You were given that vest as a display of authority; such an action forces the genin of the exam to listen to you."

"Hammer me nail."

"You are a plant. A test within a test."

"I heard you were pretty… smart," Ai said, pausing just long enough to make sure he understood it was intentional. The narrowing of his eyes conveyed his notice of the slight. "You're right, I am. Not every client that you might have to work with will be enjoyable. But this? Right here, right now, is advice, not part of the exam. If you don't believe me, check for yourself. I imagine you should be able to see him with those eyes of yours."

Neji didn't look away from her, but she could tell he was pulling into himself, drawing on his chakra. With a muttered 'Byakugan,' veins bulged around his eyes and she could feel his focus drift away from her.

Ai did however feel pressure increase in her head, like the beginning of a headache. . Gilded bars, broken wings. Some birds never fly. She rubbed at the center of her forehead where most of the building pressure lay. Honestly, why couldn't the voices speak plainly? What the hell did a bird have to do with anything going on right now? She shoved it aside, back into its mental mind corner and returned her attention to the ninja before her.

What Neji saw, Ai couldn't know for sure, she only had the vaguest idea of what the Byakugan was capable of doing, but she did know it could see chakra and if he could see half of what she heard in her mind concerning Gaara, he wouldn't argue with her anymore.

It took a few moments until she felt that primordial and unexplainable sensation of someone watching her return and it was a few heartbeats later that Neji's Byakugan faded. He didn't say anything, but from the new look in his eyes, Ai got the feeling that he wasn't going to debate with her about bunking with his fellow Leaf genin.

"All right then," She muttered. "I'll get going."

Once again Neji kept her from leaving.

"Continuous wear of a chakra suppressor can cause permanent damage."

"Gee, thanks mom," she faced him with crossed arms. "I'll make sure to take it off before I go to bed, happy?" Neji remained impassive to her sass. She rolled her eyes and lessened the sarcasm. "I know about suppressors and I take the proper precautions."

"The current state of your chakra suggests you have had training, you are allowed to participate in something as important as the Chunin Exams, yet you are not a ninja. Why?"

"I don't think that's really any of your business."

It was at that moment that his teammates reemerged from the other room. She really didn't want to have this conversation in front of other people. However, Neji didn't let up.

"Are you aware you possess three chakra affinities?"

"Yes, Doctor, I am," she snapped.

"Such a thing is rare, yet with suitable training someone with three affinities should be able to become an adept shinobi. Are you simply that inept?"

"God, fine!" she called out, throwing up her arms. "Since you're so concerned, I'm not a shinobi because I'm not from here! I came from Lightning; I even spent time in Hidden Cloud! They probably all think I'm some sort of spy! I've had training because the Hokage probably doesn't want me blowing up a school! My chakra is volatile at best and I can't really control it! My three affinities like to mix and go off in a vapor explosion! Be glad I'm wearing this suppressor!" She didn't add that that only happened when she had a panic attack. Fear seemed to be its key ingredient, but they didn't need to know that. Ai took a deep breath, god, she was so stressed out right now.

Tenten and Lee were staring at her in shock and something akin to pity. She recalled that Lee himself had chakra related problems and probably felt he could relate with her. Ai sincerely hoped her didn't want to suddenly become best of friends all of a sudden. One; she didn't want to be friends, and two; her friends had a horrible habit of dying or otherwise disappearing. Neji face was completely passive, however, which was something of a relief. She could feed off his calm façade and use it to relax herself. A passive face went a long way.

The silence lasted a few seconds before it was broken, thank God, she could see an inspiring speech building on Lee's face, by an annoying voice, not quite so thank God.

"Good to see everyone else gets the same crap tour we did. Nice to know it isn't nation specific."

Ai turned to face Kankuro. Temari was beside him, but Gaara was off on his own staring out into space or whatever. "If you have a problem with the tour you can leave your critique in the suggestion box."

"And where's that?"

In a combination of headache, lack of sleep, and stress, the words just slipped out. "Up your ass if you don't shut your mouth!"

Ai realized a second too late that she should be the one shutting her mouth because this time, for whatever reason, what she said caught Gaara's attention and he turned his aquamarine eyes on to her full force. The tension in the room went up as he continued to stare at her and Ai sudden felt vaguely similar, she supposed, to how a mouse would feel when being stared down by a cat. The sound of grating sand increased the pressure on her head and she couldn't tell if it was from outside her own skull or not, but the side eyes Gaara's siblings where giving him suggested it might not be.

Tension was broken by a high-pitched whirring, just like the sound of a dentist's drill, only louder. It was joined seconds later by rattling metal, clacking together as if a rattlesnake's tail was filled with metal instead. Ai knew the sound with great familiarity. It was Abel's warning, the sound he would make before coming to her defense.

Eyes shifted upwards, searching, but Abel was not visible. The sound cut off shortly after Gaara's gaze was broken from her, Abel having succeeded in his intention.

Ai took that time to take a few relaxing breaths, pulling the frayed edges of herself back together. The quiet was broken by Lee.

"Was that the drop bear?" he asked, worry lacing his tone.

Ai closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "Yes, that was a drop bear." She shoved her hands in her pocket and beat a hasty retreat back to the 'employees only' section of the tower. She was so done with today.

Hayate met her at the top of the stairs, he didn't look overly happy. "What happened?" He asked each word carefully pronounced. "Everyone heard Abel go off."

"Sorry," she practically whined. "I guess I made Gaara mad, or, I don't know. I guess he wasn't too keen on me touching his brother's –" Hayate held out his hand, palm facing her. The other one went to his face, fingers massaging his forehead.

"Just, stop right there, I don't want to hear it." Ai dropped her eyes, seemed the stress was getting to everyone today.

Abel slid down from above, moving to her and arching his back into the side of her thighs like a cat begging for attention.

"Next time," Hayate started, "and I don't care what they say, just turn around and walk away. We don't need this situation getting any worse."

"Situation?" She looked back at him.

Instead of answering Hayate slid a hand across her head, ruffling her hair and forcing her to look away. He then followed his own advice by turning around and walking away. "Find something to do that isn't antagonizing the Sand shinobi."

"Sure," she agreed halfheartedly, though she did intend to listen to him. Not that she purposely ignored his first 'avoid the Sand team.'

Abel bumped her again. Looking to him she crouched down to be more on his level, he tilted his blank face down at her. "You know, maybe I ought to blame you for this." Abel tilted his head. "Why'd you have to try to talk to him?"

Abel rattled. The sensation she got from last night returned. You're not like the others.

"So, he's different. Lots of people are different, that doesn't mean you've tried to talk to them before." He only clacked his saw-blade teeth, reinforcing the earlier feeling. "Whatever," she muttered, turning to lean her back against the wall.