Suna's Kekkei Genkai
Chapter 9: Hot Chocolate
This is H-R's favorite chapter (the beginning any way) enjoy :D
Gai strolled down the streets of Konoha as if strolling down the streets of Konoha was the best thing he'd ever done. He was on his way to train his students. He had a great lesson planned out about how to deal with the troubles of youth. Of course after this there would be lots of taijutsu work outs and maybe a few genjutsu and sparring lessons. But the Lecture was more important then anything else. Some one had to give a spark of hope for the growing youth! If no one else would do it, then it was all up to him!!!
Gai struck a pose, pointing at the sky in front of him. "YES IT IS ALL UP TO ME NOW!!!!! AHAHAHAHA--" he stopped when he noticed a certain red haired sand-nin sitting on a bench looking deep in thought.
Gaara sighed again. Even though Temari had explain so that he understood about being in love, he still didn't know how to give it. He barely understood how to receive it. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the green figure step up in front of him.
"GOOD MORNING, GAARA!!" Gaara visibily jump at the sudden voice and stared up at the insane green man in front of him. "HOW ARE YOU ON THIS FINE MORNING?!!?!"
"Uh.."
"WHY ARE YOU JUST SITTING HERE WASTING YOUR YOUTH AWAY?!!?" Gai demanded, cutting him off and making him jump again. "IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO, YOU SHALL COME WITH ME TO TRAIN WITH MY STUDENTS!!!" Gai grabbed the stunned sand nin and hauled him away to the training ground his group used.
On the way they past Kiba and Shino walking Akamaru. Of course Gai had to stop and comment on how proud he was that they were not wasting their youth away. Shino and Kiba glance apprehensefully at the now terrified Gaara under one of his arms. Gaara gave them a look that said: 'please help me!!'. Unfortunately, neither Kiba nor Shino had time to do anything because Gai suddenly realised he was late for the team meeting and ran away leaving behind a cloud of dust and a sweat drop Kiba and Shino.
"GOOD MORNING STUDENTS!!!!" Gai greeted at the top of his lungs as he stepped into the clearing.
"Good morning Gai sensei!" Lee greeted back. "But, Gai-sensei, you're late!"
"YES, AND I APPOLOGIZE FOR THAT BUT ON THE WAY I FOUND SOMEONE WHO WAS WASTING HIS YOUTH AWAY, SO I INVITED HIM TO TRAIN WITH US FOR THE DAY!"
Lee, TenTen, and Neji looked at the harassed looking boy under his one arm. Neji's eyes bulged, Lee tried not to laugh, and TenTen looked upset.
"But, sensei, he's a sand-nin," she said, still not on good terms with the three.
"So what?" Neji hissed in her ear. TenTen turned and stared at him, but he was looking everywhere but at her.
"TENTEN, MY DEAR, YOU DO REALIZE THAT MADAM HOKAGE-SAMA HERSELF IS TRAINING GAARA. AND OUR NEJI IS TRAINING KANKUROU, THEY ARE NOT THAT BAD!" Gai assured her putting Gaara down. He then had them sit down in a row and listen to his short lecture which ended up to be about two hours.
Gaara leaned over to Neji. "What's wrong with your teacher?" he whispered.
"He's always like this," Neji whispered back, happy Gaara sat next to him.
Gaara gave him a look.
As the lecture was coming to a close, Gaara notice that TenTen looked at though she was being brainwashed and zombified. Lee was hanging on to every word the freak in front of them said, although apparently he forgot his memo pad and couldn't write it down and was having a hard time remembering everything. Neji was meditating not paying any attention at all to his teacher.
"ALRIGHT, MY STUDENTS!!! WITH THAT PROFOUND KNOWLEDGE AT YOUR DISPOSAL, WE WILL NOW BEING THE TRAINING!!!!" Gai screamed at the trees. "WE WILL RUN 50 LAPS AROUND THE CLEARING!!!" ( H-R does the math four days after she wrote this and realizes thats like 13 miles. good god...)
Gaara brightened up slightly. He had heard from Naruto that Gai gives insane training sessions, but this was nothing compared to what Tsunade put him through. Running was now his specialty. As they began to run, Lee and Neji fell in place with Gaara.
"Are you ok with running this much?" Neji asked. Even he had trouble running this much sometimes.
"Yeah, Tsunade-obaachan's training is much worse," Gaara stated.
"Really?" Lee asked, surprised. "She must have taught you a lot of cool new stuff."
Gaara groaned and had various flashbacks of training, the 'new jutsu' that he couldn't use unless his life was in danger, the 'new jutsu' that made him pass out from lack of chakra everytime he used it, and of course Tsunade taught him how to run away very fast from enraged gambling houses and how to carry luggage for a very long time. He glanced at his right arm then grinned slightly. (ooh, cliff hanger for later chapters heheheh Shukaku: That was the most pathetic evil laguh ever... H-R Blush: shut up...) "Yep, I have," Gaara said.
"Would you like to race me?" Lee asked.
"Huh?" Gaara looked up at him in confusion.
"Who ever finishes second will have to do 1000 sit ups and 2000 punches!!" Lee offered.
"How about whoever finishes second has to buy the first ice cream?" Gaara said. Like hell he was doing 1000 sit ups and 2000 punches!
Lee looked disappointed. What a lame punishment... but.. "YOU'RE ON!!" Lee sped up leaving Gaara and Neji in the dust. However, Gaara also sped up two seconds later leaving Neji in the dust. Neji let them have their fun. He wasn't going to participate in a game like--
"NEJI!!!! SPEED UP!!! LEE AND GAARA HAVE LEFT YOU IN THE DUST!!!! YOU AREN'T GOING TO LET THEM BEAT YOU?!?!!?" Gai screamed from where he was over looking them.
'Well, I really don't care.' Neji thought to himself.
"YOU'RE GOING TO LET LEE BETTER YOU IN SOMETHING?!?!!?!"
Stab.
"AFTER ALL THE HYUUGA BOASTING YOU'VE DONE, YOU'RE GOING TO LET LEE BEAT YOU IN A LITTLE RACE?!!?!?"
Stab. 'Goddamnit...'
"AND GAARA TOO?!!?!"
"ALRIGHT I'M RUNNING!!!!" Neji screamed back at his teacher and sped up to catch up with the two racing gennins.
A while later...
"I WON!!!" Neji yelled as he skidded to a stop at the finish line.
"GOOD JOB NEJI!! I KNEW YOU HAD IT IN YOU!!!!!" Gai screamed in his face, hugging him.
"ACK!!!!! LEMME GO! LEMME GO!!!!!!!!!!" Neji screamed.
Gai dropped Neji and turned to Gaara who had come in second. "YOU CAME IN SECOND, GAARA!!!! NOW ACCEPT YOUR PUNISHMENT AND GO GET NEJI SOME ICE CREAM!!!!!"
Gaara cringed at the loud voice as he gasped for breath. So what, it was a stupid punishment anyway. He had set that 'punishment' so that either way, he wouldn't have to do anything, and he could get some for himself. (Tsunade's got him hooked)
Lee grinned after the two. Sakura had told him about Neji's secret and he had promised to keep it ("Anything for you, Sakura-san!!"). He had challanged Gaara for the fun of it, but then Neji joined and he decided to let one of the two win. YES!!, he was a sneaky person!! (H-R snickers at her favorite green taijutsu specialist's stupidity)
"Are you sure we should get ice cream?" Neji asked as they walked through the streets of Konoha. "Wouldn't hot chocolate or something be better?" (it's winter remember?)
"What's that?" Gaara asked.
"Hot chocolate?"
Gaara nodded.
"You don't know what Hot chocolate is?!?!"
"Um..no?"
Neji grabbed Gaara's wrist and dragged him through the streets to his favorite hot chocolate stand. On the way they passed Temari, Kankurou and Sakura, who laughed together at the funny scene of Neji dragging a chibified, confused, and shocked Gaara through the streets, leaving dust in their trail.
"Two hot chocolate, please, ojiisan," Neji said sitting down on a stool.
"Good evening, Neji-kun," the man said smiling. "Would you like marshmellows too?"
"What's a marshmellow?" Gaara pondered, chewing on a cracker from the basket on the counter.
Neji and man get that Scream look from that one painting thing, of pure terror or shock. "B-both with m-marshmellows, p-please.." Neji said, in shock.
"Ok."
Gaara continued to munch on the crackers as they waited for their drinks, wondering what the heck this 'hot chocolate' was, and what the hell was a marshmellow anyway?
"How's the training with the Kiokubun'ya?" Neji asked for conversation.
"Ok, I guess," Gaara replied. "Tsunade-obaachan doesn't know how to teach me how to control it except for the basics, though. I've been training my self with Shukaku's help."
"Oh."
"But I went to an old graveyard earlier and I used it for a while," Gaara told him, pleased with himself thank you very much. "Did you know the blood limit can see ghosts?"
"I think I heard Temari talk about it before. But she said she could barely see them. Kankurou hasn't tried yet," Neji replied.
"Well, I can see them, and talk to them."
"Really?" 'cool...'
"I saw Tsunade-obaachan's brother and boyfriend," Gaara suddenly stopped. That's what Kankurou said Neji wanted to be. God this was confusing.
"You talked to them?"
"Yeah, but it was boring. Then I saw someone else," Gaara said.
"Who?" Neji asked as the man placed their drinks in front of them. "Oh, here, careful, they're hot."
Gaara looked down at the drink in front of him, then reached down and poked the white puff balls floating in it. "What is this?"
"It's the marshmellows, they are good, trust me," Neji said, sipping his own.
Gaara picked the cup up and sniffed it. The wonderful smell of chocolate drifted up to him. He took a sip and savered the taste for a bit. Then he took a gulp of it, and began choaking on the sand that sprung up to stop the drink from burning him.
"Are you ok?!" Neji asked jumping up. "I told you it was hot," he said patting Gaara's back. He waited while Gaara got a hold of himself and spat the rest of the sand out of his mouth. "Let's wait a bit until it cools ok?" Gaara nodded, reaching for another cracker. It had been a long time since he'd done something like that. "Anyway, who did you see in the graveyard?" Neji asked sitting back down,
"I saw your father," Gaara replied, chewing on the cracker, then spitting more sand he'd missed out of his mouth.
"My--!" Neji stared at him. "What?"
"Hyuuga Hizashi," Gaara said. "He's you're father right? That's what he told me."
"You saw my..." Neji stopped and stared down at his drink.
Gaara looked over at him. He looked very upset and Gaara couldn't understand why. No one had ever been precious to him before he met Naruto and made Temari and Kankurou precious to him. Therefore no one precious to him had died and didn't understand why it was a bad thing.
"Did--did he say anything about me?" Neji asked not looking at him.
"He said you talk about me a lot," Gaara stated.
"That's not what I meant!" Neji said, harsher then he wanted. "What did he say?"
"Nothing," Gaara said looking at him funny.
"No, he must've said something! What is it?!" Neji stood up and grabbed Gaara's shirt. Gaara didn't answer. Neji had yelled at him and he hated when people yelled at him, especially when he didn't understand why. Because he didn't answer Neji gave him a shove then stormed away.
Gaara stared after him then turn and stared down at Neji's untouched drink. He picked up his and finished it. He paid for both then stood and also stormed away in the opposite direction to Tsunade's office.
Tsuande looked up when he entered and smiled. "Hello Gaara, this is unexpected! I usually have to track you down, and here you've come to keep me company. What's the occasion?" Gaara slumped down in a chair and pulled his knees up to his chest. Tsunade looked down at the papers she was suppose to be reading, then glanced up at Gaara. "What's wrong, chiisai-kun?"
"Neji's mad at me," Gaara said resting his chin on his knees.
"Really..."
"I don't understand why."
Tsunade frowned in concern and went over to sit in the chair next to him. "What happened?"
Gaara told her what happened since he came home from the party. Tsunade listened closely, smiling inwardly. She had never heard Gaara talk so much in one sitting. But then she looked concerned as he told her about the event at the Hot Chocolate stand.
"Why did he get mad at me?" Gaara asked looking up at her.
Tsunade sat back for a while and thought. She knew why he did, but explaining it to Gaara might be a little harder then usual. "If Temari and Kankurou died, would you be upset?"
"Yeah."
"Well, Neji's father dying was as hard as Temari and Kankurou dying would be for you."
"Why? I wasn't upset when my father died," Gaara told her.
"Well, that's because your father and Neji's father were different. Neji loved his father and his father loved him and when he died it was very hard for Neji," Tsuande explain. "It's a different situation."
"Oh."
"The fact that you can see him and he can't hurts alot," Tsunade said.
"But I don't understand!" Gaara insisted. "Why is he upset!?" He covered his head with his arms in frustration. Tsunade felt a wave of pity for him. For someone who use to kill with no remorse and never having someone they cared about die, the situation must be hard to understand.
Gently she pulled his arms away from his head and gave him a hug. "It's ok, you don't have to understand yet. But you will later I promise." Gaara relaxed against her as she scratched his shoulder.
Knock-knock.
Both sat up and Tsunade called for them to come in. The two Chunin who H-R figured their names out and has inconviniently forgotten stepped in. "Hokage-sama, have you finished those documents yet?" the one asked.
"I'm nearly finished," Tsunade told him. "Something came up."
The two chunin glanced in Gaara's direction, but the sand nin didn't acknowledge their presence. They placed their stack of papers down on her desk saying something about the rest of the documents and left with a bow.
Gaara stayed with Tsunade the rest of the evening just to keep her company. Neither spoke since Tsunade was reading the papers and Gaara seemed to have maxed out his length of speech. When it grew dark Tsunade walked him home, assuring him that Neji wouldn't be mad forever. When they got home Temari was wrapped in a thick blanket shivering on the sofa.
"What the hell is wrong with this village?!" she demanded as Gaara took his shoes off. "It's freezing!!"
"It is cold in here.." Tsunade noticed as she stepped in. She went down the basement to check stuff that H-R knows not their names but is actually very good at fixing them. A little while later she came up. "Oh dear."
"That was a bad 'oh dear'," Kankurou said, coming in from the kitchen.
"Your heater's broke," Tsuande said.
"What's a heater?" (desert, they don't need one it feels like a cool spring morning at night)Kankurou asked munching on some chips.
"It's what makes the house not this cold," Tsunade said. "I'll see if I can get someone to fix it tomorrow."
"What about tonight?!" Temari asked.
"Well, you could deal with it, or go somewhere else for the time being," Tsuande said.
"Where would we go?" Kankurou asked as Gaara reached over and took some chips from the bag.
"The closest place is the Hyuuga's," Tsuande said thinking about it. "Or you could split up and sleep in different places."
"Let's try the Hyuuga's," Temari said without asking her brother. She was to protective to let them go somewhere by themselves. Tsunade walked the whole five seconds (not really) to the Hyuuga residence and asked ifthey would allow the Sand nins to stay for the night.
End.
J/K
OH!! side note!! Three Again got over 120 reviews!! yes!!! I beat Genius in Love!!