Ch. 5 - Trouble. The Dangers of the Forest of Death.
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"Kakashi, we need to talk!" Ryu shouted as he threw the door open to the lounge that Kakashi was sitting in along with two other Jounins, neither of which he knew. The lazy eye went to stare at Ryu as he walked over to Kakashi.
"What?" Ryu almost hit him for the remark.
"You know what you idiot! You send me on a mission to watch somebody in this exam and you don't even bother to tell me who I'm watching. Not knowing why I can live with, but not this. So either you tell me who I'm supposed to be watching or I'm outta here." Kakashi rolled his eye at him.
"Look, obviously I didn't tell you because you'll know soon enough. Don't worry about it and hurry over to the practice arena 44." Ryu raised an eyebrow.
"What for?"
"The next test idiot, now go." Ryu growled at him but did as he said. If Kakashi felt the target would show himself soon enough, he'd believe him. For now anyway.
"The kid seems to have a serious problem with authority. Who is he Kakashi?" Kakashi looked over at the woman.
"Some kid, it doesn't really matter. He doesn't have any intentions of staying once he gets done with this mission, so it's not important. If he did though, he could become a great ninja." She smirked.
"Kakashi, you aren't planning anything underhanded to keep him around are you?" He looked at her before pulling out his book.
"Do you honestly think I would do something like that?" She smiled.
"You? Of course not." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, but he ignored her and continued to read.
**********
"It's good to see you're all here, welcome to practice arena 44." Anko looked over the group of students, some looked tired, others looked eager, and some didn't look like they really cared.
"Also known as the Forest of Death." Ryu's eyes shot open, something that he was beginning to get accustomed to doing. Surprises seemed to be everywhere in this place. He didn't believe it, the Forest of Death was what Yugo had been looking for before he was kidnapped! Was there some kind of connection?
"But that's impossible, the place doesn't exist!" Anko looked at him with a hint of amusement on her features.
"You're looking at it, so obviously it does." She continued to go over the rules of this test, but Ryu didn't really pay attention. He was too busy looking through the students to see if he could find his target to listen. Then, a kunai flew past his arm, ripping the sleeve of his shirt and bringing his attention back to Anko.
"Do you believe you don't have to listen? That you're above the others here?" He grunted and ripped off the ruined sleeve of his shirt, leaving the other in place. He now had one arm exposed and the other still hidden beneath the long sleeve on his left.
"I've got better things to do then listen to you ramble." She gritted her teeth and snarled at him.
"Look, you aren't any better then the others here! In fact, you're trash compared to them. A true ninja listens when being given orders." He rolled his eyes at her.
"I'm not here to become a ninja lady, so just shove it." Her pupils seemed to vanish as she glared at him. Before he knew what was going on, she had him pinned to a tree and a kunai at his throat. Ryu smirked as he looked at her, not impressed in the slightest.
"Who are you trying to scare with that little toy?" Anko slid it across his throat, cutting him slightly and smirking at the blood that flowed from the wound.
"I love the sight of blood." He rolled his eyes again.
"Yeah, you went over that when you cut Naruto." She smiled.
"So you were listening."
"No, just caught my attention when that long tongued guy returned your weapon to you." She tried to act like the statement didn't get to her. She ignored him and threw Ryu to the ground.
"Get out of here; we've got thirty minutes until the test begins." He stood and dusted himself off before moving off to find something to do.
"A wound?" Ryu looked over to his left as he heard the soft voice. As he did so, he saw Hinata looking down at the small cylinder in her hands, genuinely depressed. It seemed Naruto had just blown her off again.
"Hinata?" She looked up at him.
"Do I know you?" He scratched the back of his head and grinned.
"Well, no. But I know who you are, kinda. Anyway, are you ready for this exam?" She stuttered for a moment and seemed to be deciding whether or not to talk to him. Out of respect, she decided it was best to talk to him.
"Well, I hope I am. I'm going to do my best, I don't want to let down Shino-kun and Kiba-kun." He smirked.
"You'll do fine. I'm sure you're an excellent ninja." She blushed.
"Well, I don't know about that."
"You just need to believe a bit more in yourself is all. You don't give yourself as much credit as you deserve. But then again, I don't have any room to speak where you're concerned. Sorry, I'm butting into other people's business again." She smiled shyly at him.
"It's okay, thank you." He raised an eyebrow.
"Thanks? For what?"
"For believing in me. I may not know you, but you seem like a nice person." He extended a palm in greeting.
"Sorry, this should have been the first thing I did. I'm Ryu." She accepted his hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ryu-kun." He looked at the small cylinder in her hand.
"What's that for?" She looked at the cylinder and then back at him.
"For treating wounds, why do you ask?" He shrugged and placed his hands in his pockets.
"Just curious." She looked at his neck and noticed the long cut on it.
"You're hurt. Do you need me to treat that for you?" Ryu shook his head.
"No thanks, I'll live. It was great meeting you Hinata; hope to see you again sometime." He waved as he turned and walked off to find his teammates.
**********
"That was really stupid Ryu, making that huge scene with the examiner like you did." He shrugged at Lina's statement.
"Like I care? What's she gonna do to me?" He looked at her.
"I just have a real problem listening to adults. They've never been there for me, ya know? So I don't feel I have a reason to listen to them. And they think they're superior to me, when they aren't. They're older, big deal; doesn't make 'em any wiser." Gado glanced over at him.
"Whatever, just don't get us thrown out because of it."
*********
"So what's the plan?" Ryu continued to survey the forest around them. He had put Gado in charge of their scroll, the Scroll of Heaven. All the teams had entered through different entrances. His immediate plan was to go out and look for the other teams alone. If he found one he'd come back to get the others so they could set a trap.
"I'm going to go scout. You guys wait here; keep moving if I'm not back in an hour." He checked that his guitar was still strapped to his back.
"Don't you think it was a little stupid to bring that Ryu?" He shook his head at Lina's question.
"This thing is good for more than making music. Trust me, it'll be a big help when I need it to be. Anyway, I'm off. Good luck you guys, and stay out of trouble." They both nodded in acknowledgement before he leapt up into the branches overhead and took off deeper into the woods. With the speed he was traveling at, covering ground was easy and fast.
"Who's there?" Ryu stopped, planting his feet firmly on the nearest tree and holding himself in place with his Chakra. He looked down onto the ground to see three people standing in a clearing. His eyes narrowed when he saw that the one in the middle was Gaara, the young man now wore a large pot on his back. Feeling there was nothing to fear Ryu jumped down landing right in front of him. The other two, Konkuro and Temari, both glared at him. Gaara acted as if nobody was there.
"Hey, what the hell's your problem? You wanted to know who was there so here I am." Gaara's eye then moved to him. Ryu took a step back, those eyes looked dangerous.
"Where is your Scroll of Heaven? Tell me, and maybe I'll let you live." Ryu grunted before shoving his hands in his pockets. There was nothing Gaara could say that would make him cough up the information. He smirked.
"Wouldn't you like to know? Maybe I have it, maybe I don't. Either way you won't find out unless you can beat me. Then maybe I'll consider telling you." Gaara almost smirked, but not quite.
"If you want to die, then that's fine by me." Ryu crouched down slightly and pulled a kunai from the pouch on his leg.
"Only person around here that's gonna die is you!" He tossed the kunai and growled when it barely skinned Gaara's cheek. The other two were silent and stayed back, why Ryu did not know. Gaara didn't even move to attack Ryu; he only stood in place glaring at him. Was there something wrong with him? Perhaps he was paralyzed. Not waiting for a reaction, Ryu jumped into the air, planted his feet on a tree and kicked off it towards Gaara, sending a straight kick aimed right for Gaara's face. At the last second, Gaara jerked his head to the side and brought a fist up into Ryu's gut as he flew past. Ryu groaned; flying back from the blow and landing at the base of the tree he had just kicked off of.
"Damn, I wasn't expecting that." He pushed himself up to a sitting position and looked around him as he felt the ground shifting. But the ground wasn't shifting, it was encasing him. It was sand, and the realization of just what was happening struck him. Gaara was going to encase him in sand! Not wanting to end the fight so soon, Ryu pulled himself free and leapt into the tree.
"Nice try freak, but you'll have to do better then that!" He spat as he threw four shurikens at Gaara. None of them hit their target, because Gaara created a protective shell around himself; the shell was nothing but sand. Whatever Ryu had just gotten himself into, he had a feeling it would only end bad for him.
*********
"What is it Akamaru?" Hinata looked at Kiba. Akamaru was acting very strange, like something dangerous was close by. They had already bagged their second scroll and now they only needed to get to the tower.
"Is there something wrong, Kiba-kun? Is Akamaru okay?" Kiba looked at her and pulled Akamaru off his head, holding him in his arms as Shino and Hinata petted him.
"There's somebody very strong close by, we should probably be careful. Hinata, can you check it out?" She stood up straight, nodded, and formed a seal with her palms as she closed her eyes.
"Alright, Byakugan!" She opened her eyes again and an outline of her pupils that didn't seem to exist appeared. Her ability allowed her to look through the foliage and saw a young man with a large gourd on his back.
"There's somebody over there." Shino put his ear to the tree they were standing on.
"It sounds like four people." Kiba smirked.
"Alright, let's go check it out!" Shino stood back up.
"Kiba, we can't do that. Have you lost your mind?" Kiba grunted a response.
"The examiner told us to get a Scroll of Earth and a Scroll of Heaven. All we're doing is checking it out. If it looks too dangerous we'll leave." Hinata noticed somebody standing in front of Gaara, but Kiba snapped her out of the trance state before she could get a good look at him.
"Come on Hinata, let's go." Shino and Kiba had already taken off by the time she followed after them.
**********
"Dammit!" Ryu hissed as Gaara finally caught him inside the sand casing and raised him into the air.
"Is that all you've got? I was expecting more of a challenge from how you talked. Desert Funeral!" Ryu winced in pain as the sand began to put tremendous pressure on his chest, and then crushed him. Gaara looked up as the sand exploded everywhere. To his surprise though, blood did not rain down with it; only water.
"A water clone!" Konkuro exclaimed as they all three looked up to see Ryu standing in a nearby tree. Ryu smirked down at them, Gaara in particular.
"So that's how your attack works, well now that I've seen it there is very little chance of me falling victim to it." He leapt down from the tree branch and landed a few paces away from Gaara.
"Now, let's get down to business." Ryu performed a number of seals with his palms and chuckled softly.
"Katon Goukakyu no Jutsu!" Flames flew from Ryu's palm as he held his hand up to his mouth and blew into it. The fire quickly engulfed Gaara and the ground around him. After what he felt was long enough, he let the flame die and looked wide eyed at Gaara. He was unharmed! Sand ran off Gaara as the shell casing fell back into the earth. Konkuro grunted.
"Gaara controls the sand. Whether he wills it to or not, the sand protects him. Gaara is impervious to any attack." Ryu glared at him and pointed at Konkuro.
"Shut up or you're next."
"That's assuming you can survive against Gaara. That is very unlikely." Ryu spat some sand out of his mouth, and looked back at Gaara.
"Quite a devastating attack you have. But I'm way too quick to be caught by that." Gaara made no reply, only glared at him with those pale green eyes. It was making Ryu feel uneasy, he was beginning to wish he had never picked a fight with Gaara of the Desert.
**********
"Who is that guy? Is he crazy?" Kiba asked as he watched the fight unfold. Akamaru was bundled up inside his jacket, shaking like a leaf.
"Ryu-kun." Hinata muttered under her breath as she watched. It had surprised everybody, including Gaara, when Ryu had escaped the Desert Coffin using a water clone.
"Did you say something Hinata?" She gasped as Kiba's voice brought her back to the present.
"No, is Akamaru going to be okay?" He looked down at his dog and patted his head comfortingly.
"I hope so, we should go. That guy might decide to come after us after he finishes with him. Isn't that the rookie who just became a Genin yesterday?" Shino nodded.
"Yes, he must be a bigger idiot than Naruto if he's picking a fight with that guy. Let's get out of here." Hinata shook her head very subtly.
"No, we can't just leave Ryu-kun like that. He might end up in trouble. He's a rookie Genin like us. We should try to help him." As if to prove what she said was true, they heard Ryu cry out in pain. Gaara had caught him once again in the Desert Coffin.
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"One last time, give me your scroll and I won't kill you." Ryu winced in pain and looked down at Gaara. Somehow, he had managed to catch him in the same attack again. How, he wasn't sure.
"I already told you once." He gritted his teeth and screamed as he tried to break free, but to no avail.
"No!" Before Gaara could crush his body, something flew past his head, breaking his concentration and dropping Ryu back to the ground; freeing him from the sand. As he looked to see who had thrown the object, Hinata moved to get Ryu. She moved so quickly that none of them realized she was there until she and the others were far away.
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"Is he okay?" Hinata asked as she looked down at Ryu's unconscious form. Kiba nodded.
"Yeah, he's still breathing, we barely got to him in time." Akamaru was still shaking in his jacket. Gaara was powerful, dangerously powerful. Never had anything frightened his dog that bad. Ryu was still wincing from the pain he felt. His life was hanging by a thread, but he had just narrowly escaped an early death.
* Yeah, this chapter's a bit longer then the others. Thought I'd offer a bit more to read since I won't be able to add anything to it for about a week and a half. By the way, I'd really appreciate some reviews. So, feel free to review. I think I'll even go out and review some stuff.I just don't have much time to read other fics (actually, I'm just to lazy too.), which sucks because some of the fics I have read in the past were really good. Well, peace!
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"Kakashi, we need to talk!" Ryu shouted as he threw the door open to the lounge that Kakashi was sitting in along with two other Jounins, neither of which he knew. The lazy eye went to stare at Ryu as he walked over to Kakashi.
"What?" Ryu almost hit him for the remark.
"You know what you idiot! You send me on a mission to watch somebody in this exam and you don't even bother to tell me who I'm watching. Not knowing why I can live with, but not this. So either you tell me who I'm supposed to be watching or I'm outta here." Kakashi rolled his eye at him.
"Look, obviously I didn't tell you because you'll know soon enough. Don't worry about it and hurry over to the practice arena 44." Ryu raised an eyebrow.
"What for?"
"The next test idiot, now go." Ryu growled at him but did as he said. If Kakashi felt the target would show himself soon enough, he'd believe him. For now anyway.
"The kid seems to have a serious problem with authority. Who is he Kakashi?" Kakashi looked over at the woman.
"Some kid, it doesn't really matter. He doesn't have any intentions of staying once he gets done with this mission, so it's not important. If he did though, he could become a great ninja." She smirked.
"Kakashi, you aren't planning anything underhanded to keep him around are you?" He looked at her before pulling out his book.
"Do you honestly think I would do something like that?" She smiled.
"You? Of course not." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, but he ignored her and continued to read.
**********
"It's good to see you're all here, welcome to practice arena 44." Anko looked over the group of students, some looked tired, others looked eager, and some didn't look like they really cared.
"Also known as the Forest of Death." Ryu's eyes shot open, something that he was beginning to get accustomed to doing. Surprises seemed to be everywhere in this place. He didn't believe it, the Forest of Death was what Yugo had been looking for before he was kidnapped! Was there some kind of connection?
"But that's impossible, the place doesn't exist!" Anko looked at him with a hint of amusement on her features.
"You're looking at it, so obviously it does." She continued to go over the rules of this test, but Ryu didn't really pay attention. He was too busy looking through the students to see if he could find his target to listen. Then, a kunai flew past his arm, ripping the sleeve of his shirt and bringing his attention back to Anko.
"Do you believe you don't have to listen? That you're above the others here?" He grunted and ripped off the ruined sleeve of his shirt, leaving the other in place. He now had one arm exposed and the other still hidden beneath the long sleeve on his left.
"I've got better things to do then listen to you ramble." She gritted her teeth and snarled at him.
"Look, you aren't any better then the others here! In fact, you're trash compared to them. A true ninja listens when being given orders." He rolled his eyes at her.
"I'm not here to become a ninja lady, so just shove it." Her pupils seemed to vanish as she glared at him. Before he knew what was going on, she had him pinned to a tree and a kunai at his throat. Ryu smirked as he looked at her, not impressed in the slightest.
"Who are you trying to scare with that little toy?" Anko slid it across his throat, cutting him slightly and smirking at the blood that flowed from the wound.
"I love the sight of blood." He rolled his eyes again.
"Yeah, you went over that when you cut Naruto." She smiled.
"So you were listening."
"No, just caught my attention when that long tongued guy returned your weapon to you." She tried to act like the statement didn't get to her. She ignored him and threw Ryu to the ground.
"Get out of here; we've got thirty minutes until the test begins." He stood and dusted himself off before moving off to find something to do.
"A wound?" Ryu looked over to his left as he heard the soft voice. As he did so, he saw Hinata looking down at the small cylinder in her hands, genuinely depressed. It seemed Naruto had just blown her off again.
"Hinata?" She looked up at him.
"Do I know you?" He scratched the back of his head and grinned.
"Well, no. But I know who you are, kinda. Anyway, are you ready for this exam?" She stuttered for a moment and seemed to be deciding whether or not to talk to him. Out of respect, she decided it was best to talk to him.
"Well, I hope I am. I'm going to do my best, I don't want to let down Shino-kun and Kiba-kun." He smirked.
"You'll do fine. I'm sure you're an excellent ninja." She blushed.
"Well, I don't know about that."
"You just need to believe a bit more in yourself is all. You don't give yourself as much credit as you deserve. But then again, I don't have any room to speak where you're concerned. Sorry, I'm butting into other people's business again." She smiled shyly at him.
"It's okay, thank you." He raised an eyebrow.
"Thanks? For what?"
"For believing in me. I may not know you, but you seem like a nice person." He extended a palm in greeting.
"Sorry, this should have been the first thing I did. I'm Ryu." She accepted his hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ryu-kun." He looked at the small cylinder in her hand.
"What's that for?" She looked at the cylinder and then back at him.
"For treating wounds, why do you ask?" He shrugged and placed his hands in his pockets.
"Just curious." She looked at his neck and noticed the long cut on it.
"You're hurt. Do you need me to treat that for you?" Ryu shook his head.
"No thanks, I'll live. It was great meeting you Hinata; hope to see you again sometime." He waved as he turned and walked off to find his teammates.
**********
"That was really stupid Ryu, making that huge scene with the examiner like you did." He shrugged at Lina's statement.
"Like I care? What's she gonna do to me?" He looked at her.
"I just have a real problem listening to adults. They've never been there for me, ya know? So I don't feel I have a reason to listen to them. And they think they're superior to me, when they aren't. They're older, big deal; doesn't make 'em any wiser." Gado glanced over at him.
"Whatever, just don't get us thrown out because of it."
*********
"So what's the plan?" Ryu continued to survey the forest around them. He had put Gado in charge of their scroll, the Scroll of Heaven. All the teams had entered through different entrances. His immediate plan was to go out and look for the other teams alone. If he found one he'd come back to get the others so they could set a trap.
"I'm going to go scout. You guys wait here; keep moving if I'm not back in an hour." He checked that his guitar was still strapped to his back.
"Don't you think it was a little stupid to bring that Ryu?" He shook his head at Lina's question.
"This thing is good for more than making music. Trust me, it'll be a big help when I need it to be. Anyway, I'm off. Good luck you guys, and stay out of trouble." They both nodded in acknowledgement before he leapt up into the branches overhead and took off deeper into the woods. With the speed he was traveling at, covering ground was easy and fast.
"Who's there?" Ryu stopped, planting his feet firmly on the nearest tree and holding himself in place with his Chakra. He looked down onto the ground to see three people standing in a clearing. His eyes narrowed when he saw that the one in the middle was Gaara, the young man now wore a large pot on his back. Feeling there was nothing to fear Ryu jumped down landing right in front of him. The other two, Konkuro and Temari, both glared at him. Gaara acted as if nobody was there.
"Hey, what the hell's your problem? You wanted to know who was there so here I am." Gaara's eye then moved to him. Ryu took a step back, those eyes looked dangerous.
"Where is your Scroll of Heaven? Tell me, and maybe I'll let you live." Ryu grunted before shoving his hands in his pockets. There was nothing Gaara could say that would make him cough up the information. He smirked.
"Wouldn't you like to know? Maybe I have it, maybe I don't. Either way you won't find out unless you can beat me. Then maybe I'll consider telling you." Gaara almost smirked, but not quite.
"If you want to die, then that's fine by me." Ryu crouched down slightly and pulled a kunai from the pouch on his leg.
"Only person around here that's gonna die is you!" He tossed the kunai and growled when it barely skinned Gaara's cheek. The other two were silent and stayed back, why Ryu did not know. Gaara didn't even move to attack Ryu; he only stood in place glaring at him. Was there something wrong with him? Perhaps he was paralyzed. Not waiting for a reaction, Ryu jumped into the air, planted his feet on a tree and kicked off it towards Gaara, sending a straight kick aimed right for Gaara's face. At the last second, Gaara jerked his head to the side and brought a fist up into Ryu's gut as he flew past. Ryu groaned; flying back from the blow and landing at the base of the tree he had just kicked off of.
"Damn, I wasn't expecting that." He pushed himself up to a sitting position and looked around him as he felt the ground shifting. But the ground wasn't shifting, it was encasing him. It was sand, and the realization of just what was happening struck him. Gaara was going to encase him in sand! Not wanting to end the fight so soon, Ryu pulled himself free and leapt into the tree.
"Nice try freak, but you'll have to do better then that!" He spat as he threw four shurikens at Gaara. None of them hit their target, because Gaara created a protective shell around himself; the shell was nothing but sand. Whatever Ryu had just gotten himself into, he had a feeling it would only end bad for him.
*********
"What is it Akamaru?" Hinata looked at Kiba. Akamaru was acting very strange, like something dangerous was close by. They had already bagged their second scroll and now they only needed to get to the tower.
"Is there something wrong, Kiba-kun? Is Akamaru okay?" Kiba looked at her and pulled Akamaru off his head, holding him in his arms as Shino and Hinata petted him.
"There's somebody very strong close by, we should probably be careful. Hinata, can you check it out?" She stood up straight, nodded, and formed a seal with her palms as she closed her eyes.
"Alright, Byakugan!" She opened her eyes again and an outline of her pupils that didn't seem to exist appeared. Her ability allowed her to look through the foliage and saw a young man with a large gourd on his back.
"There's somebody over there." Shino put his ear to the tree they were standing on.
"It sounds like four people." Kiba smirked.
"Alright, let's go check it out!" Shino stood back up.
"Kiba, we can't do that. Have you lost your mind?" Kiba grunted a response.
"The examiner told us to get a Scroll of Earth and a Scroll of Heaven. All we're doing is checking it out. If it looks too dangerous we'll leave." Hinata noticed somebody standing in front of Gaara, but Kiba snapped her out of the trance state before she could get a good look at him.
"Come on Hinata, let's go." Shino and Kiba had already taken off by the time she followed after them.
**********
"Dammit!" Ryu hissed as Gaara finally caught him inside the sand casing and raised him into the air.
"Is that all you've got? I was expecting more of a challenge from how you talked. Desert Funeral!" Ryu winced in pain as the sand began to put tremendous pressure on his chest, and then crushed him. Gaara looked up as the sand exploded everywhere. To his surprise though, blood did not rain down with it; only water.
"A water clone!" Konkuro exclaimed as they all three looked up to see Ryu standing in a nearby tree. Ryu smirked down at them, Gaara in particular.
"So that's how your attack works, well now that I've seen it there is very little chance of me falling victim to it." He leapt down from the tree branch and landed a few paces away from Gaara.
"Now, let's get down to business." Ryu performed a number of seals with his palms and chuckled softly.
"Katon Goukakyu no Jutsu!" Flames flew from Ryu's palm as he held his hand up to his mouth and blew into it. The fire quickly engulfed Gaara and the ground around him. After what he felt was long enough, he let the flame die and looked wide eyed at Gaara. He was unharmed! Sand ran off Gaara as the shell casing fell back into the earth. Konkuro grunted.
"Gaara controls the sand. Whether he wills it to or not, the sand protects him. Gaara is impervious to any attack." Ryu glared at him and pointed at Konkuro.
"Shut up or you're next."
"That's assuming you can survive against Gaara. That is very unlikely." Ryu spat some sand out of his mouth, and looked back at Gaara.
"Quite a devastating attack you have. But I'm way too quick to be caught by that." Gaara made no reply, only glared at him with those pale green eyes. It was making Ryu feel uneasy, he was beginning to wish he had never picked a fight with Gaara of the Desert.
**********
"Who is that guy? Is he crazy?" Kiba asked as he watched the fight unfold. Akamaru was bundled up inside his jacket, shaking like a leaf.
"Ryu-kun." Hinata muttered under her breath as she watched. It had surprised everybody, including Gaara, when Ryu had escaped the Desert Coffin using a water clone.
"Did you say something Hinata?" She gasped as Kiba's voice brought her back to the present.
"No, is Akamaru going to be okay?" He looked down at his dog and patted his head comfortingly.
"I hope so, we should go. That guy might decide to come after us after he finishes with him. Isn't that the rookie who just became a Genin yesterday?" Shino nodded.
"Yes, he must be a bigger idiot than Naruto if he's picking a fight with that guy. Let's get out of here." Hinata shook her head very subtly.
"No, we can't just leave Ryu-kun like that. He might end up in trouble. He's a rookie Genin like us. We should try to help him." As if to prove what she said was true, they heard Ryu cry out in pain. Gaara had caught him once again in the Desert Coffin.
*********
"One last time, give me your scroll and I won't kill you." Ryu winced in pain and looked down at Gaara. Somehow, he had managed to catch him in the same attack again. How, he wasn't sure.
"I already told you once." He gritted his teeth and screamed as he tried to break free, but to no avail.
"No!" Before Gaara could crush his body, something flew past his head, breaking his concentration and dropping Ryu back to the ground; freeing him from the sand. As he looked to see who had thrown the object, Hinata moved to get Ryu. She moved so quickly that none of them realized she was there until she and the others were far away.
*********
"Is he okay?" Hinata asked as she looked down at Ryu's unconscious form. Kiba nodded.
"Yeah, he's still breathing, we barely got to him in time." Akamaru was still shaking in his jacket. Gaara was powerful, dangerously powerful. Never had anything frightened his dog that bad. Ryu was still wincing from the pain he felt. His life was hanging by a thread, but he had just narrowly escaped an early death.
* Yeah, this chapter's a bit longer then the others. Thought I'd offer a bit more to read since I won't be able to add anything to it for about a week and a half. By the way, I'd really appreciate some reviews. So, feel free to review. I think I'll even go out and review some stuff.I just don't have much time to read other fics (actually, I'm just to lazy too.), which sucks because some of the fics I have read in the past were really good. Well, peace!
