Hey! I'm finally posting the FINAL part of my story! Yep, it's finished!

Thanks to everyone that reviewed. You guys are so cool! (sniff) Looking at the happy reviews makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Well, I hope I can live up to expectations (don't put 'em too high, people)!

Note: I am NOT good with names, so, er... if you know Japanese (which I don't), don't get on my case about them. I just put in random words into an online dictionary, sooo....

Chapter 11: On the Road

It was a beautifully sunny day as Gaara stood silently with his arms crossed, waiting for Kitai to return. He had his eyes closed as people who walked past him watched him with curiosity. He hated standing around.

He opened his eyes and saw three girls standing across the street from him. They kept giving him strange looks, then they would whisper something to each other. One of them saw him looking at them. She blushed and said something to the other two, and they all began to giggle. Gaara sighed quietly. He shut his eyes again and blocked them out. Soon he was slowly drifting into sleep.

"Hi, excuse us?"

He opened his eyes to find that the three girls were now standing in front of him. They were all blond, had brown eyes, and were smiling cheerfully.

"You're not from around here, are you?" asked one girl as she grinned. Gaara slowly shook his head, feeling slightly irritated.

"Yeah, we kind of figured that," said another, "There aren't a lot of guys in this village that are like you." Then, as if she had said something she shouldn't have, she turned away and blushed.

"Well," the third said, "Aren't you gonna introduce yourself?" Gaara really felt annoyed now, although he managed to keep his cool demeanor.

"Gaara," he said abruptly. The girls burst into a fit of giggles. He didn't get what was so funny.

"What a cute name!" one exclaimed, "I'm..."

"Ahem," Kitai cut her off abruptly. Gaara looked at her, relieved that she had finally come back.

"Yes, can we help you?" the second girl said with an irked tone.

"That's what I was gonna ask," Kitai responded coldly.

"What'd you find?" Gaara asked before the girls could start talking again. They looked at him disbelievingly.

"You know her?" asked the third.

"Of course he knows me," replied Kitai through gritted teeth, "I'm traveling with him." The girls looked at each other with disappointed faces.

"Anyways," Kitai turned towards Gaara, "I looked everywhere, and there's only one inn in this town. It's called the..."

"Mountain Inn," cut in one of the girls, "Yeah, that's our place."

"Your place?"

"Our parents own it," replied another.

"Ohh," Kitai took a tone of mock discovery, "You're sisters. And here I was thinking that you were just a clone experiment gone wrong. Oops, my bad." The sisters glared at Kitai, and Kitai glared back.

"Well," Kitai said politely, "We really should get going. It's getting late, you know." She took Gaara's hand, but he didn't move. She looked at him expectantly.

"Kitai," he said, "Let's stay at the inn. We've been camping out for weeks, and it's about time we had something besides fish for dinner." Kitai looked disappointed.

"Aw, come on, Gaara," she half whined, "We can make it to the next town."

"Actually, the next town is fifty miles away," one girl said simply, "If you're lucky, you can make it by tomorrow afternoon." Kitai glared at her.

"We're staying here," now Gaara took Kitai's wrist and pulled her back. Kitai hunched her shoulders in annoyance.

"Great!" exclaimed a sister happily. "But first, we should introduce ourselves. I'm Ichi..."

"I'm Ni..."

"And I'm San. The inn's over here!" They began to walk away and Gaara followed.

"One, Two and Three," grumbled Kitai as she followed Gaara grudgingly, "Boy, that's creative..."

"Hey mom!" Ichi yelled, "We've got customers!"

A chubby looking woman with dark hair waddled into the entrance room.

"You're just in time for dinner!" she exclaimed happily. "Please, come in!" Gaara and Kitai followed Ichi, Ni, and San into a shabby looking inn. They went into a room with a large table. A large steaming pot sat in the center of the table along with a tub of rice. Kitai's stomach gave a large growl as she smelled the wonderful aroma of the stew. Gaara gave her a funny look as he set down his gourd then sat down himself. Kitai quickly sat down besides him.

"So, how many rooms for you?" asked the woman, "Two?"

"No, just one," Kitai answered as she eyed the pot. The woman looked a little downhearted.

"Are you sure?" Kitai raised her eyebrow at her. "With two beds?"

"That depends, do two cost more?"

"A little."

"Then just one." Kitai didn't notice the let down look of the woman and the strange glances the sister's gave each other.

"All right, your room is at the end of the hall," the woman sounded disappointed as she walked into another room. Then she returned with trays that carried bowls, cups, and chopsticks. She set them down in front of each person.

Soon everyone was eating and the only sound that was heard was the sound of the chopsticks hitting the bowls. Kitai looked around, and for the first time noticed that they were the only guests.

"Business is kind of slow, huh?" she asked politely.

"Business is good enough," the woman said abruptly. "Now, you'll have to excuse me, I have some paperwork to take care of." She got up and left. Kitai wondered if she had said something wrong.

"Don't worry about her," Ichi said as if reading Kitai's mind, "She's always grouchy when we have few guests." Kitai shrugged. The three sister's gave each other sly looks.

"So," said Ni, "Do you guys sleep together often?"

"Yeah," shrugged Kitai. More sly looks were given. Kitai knit her eyebrows, noticing the secretive air around them.

"Wow," San said deviously, "You're not much older than me, but I suppose that you've already... you know..." Kitai's food suddenly got lodged in her throat. She coughed and nearly spat it back out. Gaara silently listened in.

"What?" Kitai asked after she could speak again.

"Oh, don't be shy," Ichi gave a cunning smile, "If you've already made love, just say it." Kitai's fists clenched. She didn't answer at first. Then she slammed her hands on the table and leaned towards the sisters. They also leaned in on their hands.

"You guys are pretty nosy, aren't you?" she asked, a fake grin plastered on her face. "Do you interrogate all of your customers?"

"Only the ones that are worth interrogating," responded Ichi with a similar grin.

"You know, just because you're a bunch of hentai's, doesn't mean we are."

"A woman's virginity isn't a forbidden matter," Ni said simply.

"When you're talking in private."

"Does that mean you have something to confess?" San asked innocently.

"I have not slept with Gaara, and I won't even consider sleeping with him for many, -many-, years to come."

"I don't think he'd like having an ugly old bat as a girlfriend," Ichi put her hand up and covered her sly smile politely.

"Better than a dim-witted, ugly, fake blonde wretch who lives in a hick town in the middle of nowhere." All innocent grins disappeared as lightning flashed in their eyes. Kitai was so busy glaring at them that she almost didn't notice Gaara getting up and leaving. Almost.

"You don't have a very magnetic connection, do you?" smirked Ichi as Kitai got up hurriedly. Kitai gave them a deceptively cool smile as she flashed her middle finger at them.

"Those conniving little wenches!" Kitai was still seething as she and Gaara walked down the hall. "You'd think they'd know us when they asked those questions."

"What did they mean?" Gaara couldn't see why Kitai was so upset.

"What do you mean what did they mean??" exclaimed Kitai.

"Like, what does 'making love' mean? Or, 'having sex'?" Kitai stopped mid step as her face grew hot. Gaara could nearly see the steam coming out of her ears.

"No. Way." she said after she regained her composure. She put her hands up. "I am NOT explaining this. You're on your own. It was hard enough listening to the talk about the birds and the bees. To actually give it would be torture. I'm only twelve for Kame's sake!" She continued walking down the hall until she reached their room. Gaara shrugged and followed her.

"To think we could be sleeping under the stars right now," Kitai said as she slumped onto the ground and fell back on her back.

"Come on, this isn't that bad," Gaara said as he set down his gourd.

"And what were you doing, talking to them?" Kitai propped herself up on her arm. "It's obvious all they care about is your looks. They're not interested in anything else... Stupid, narrow minded airheads..."

"What're you talking about?" Gaara asked as he set out the futon.

"They came up to you because they thought you were cute."

"Cute?"

"Argh! Attractive! Handsome! Pretty!" Gaara had never really considered his looks before. Was he really attractive? He remained silent as Kitai continued to seethe.

"So... you're jealous because I talked to them?" Kitai fell on her face in surprise.

"I am NOT jealous!" she exclaimed, "There's nothing to be jealous about!!" Gaara chuckled to himself amusedly.

"What are you laughing about??" Kitai asked.

"Nothing, nothing," Gaara said as he got into the futon. He lay down and closed his eyes. "Come on, let's go to sleep." Kitai frowned grudgingly, but crawled into the futon anyways.