Sand Knight

Chapter Two : Reluctant Savior

Disclaimers: Yeah, yeah, it's not mine. (Long, drawn-out sigh) But people are liking it, so...CHAPTER TWO! Forward! Mwahaha. Oh, by the by, most of the chapter is going to consist of Hinata's flashback, and it won't end until it says 'End Flashback' in the NEXT chapter. Oh, I'm not gonna put it in italics, because it's so long and that would just be annoying (Another sigh)

Gaara: (Pissed because he has to be in this chapter)

Starr: Oh, shut up.

Current Song : My Lover's Gone by Dido

PS: If you ever read one of these chapters and find yourself going, 'What the hell was she thinking?', just listen to whatever my current song is...it might help you understand a bit better (Nervous laugh) Then again, probably not...

Hinata really hadn't slept much that night. Of course, she hadn't really expected to, either. Yet, the sleep she had gotten wasn't riddled with nightmares, like she had expected.

Smiling despite herself, the leaf nin stood and looked at the other three girls. They were still sound asleep. The faint smile widened as she shook her head, walking over to the window and sliding it open silently.

Unlike the previous night, which had been cold, the mid-morning air was pleasantly warm. Hinata leaned against the sill with a contented look on her face, lost in her thoughts as usual.

She looked down at her wrist and sighed. 'Was that...really nine months?'

Flashback

From what she could tell, it was going to be a fairly normal day. She slid out of bed, brushing her hair with her hands. She never used a brush – it was too short to require it.

Stifling a yawn, Hinata looked at her clock. Five-thirty. She had plenty of time.

Stripping out of her nightclothes, she stepped into the shower in her bathroom. The girl sighed, remembering how troublesome it had been to share a bathroom with Hanabi up until about a month before.

She giggled after that thought. 'I'm spending too much time around Shikamaru-san,' she added to herself with a smile.

After standing under the lukewarm water for about ten minutes, she quickly dried herself off and dressed again. She looked down at the large backpack she took when she went with Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai on long missions. But she knew that today's mission wouldn't exactly be drawn out, so she left her room and headed towards the kitchen.

Barely sticking her head into the room, she looked around briefly before sighing with relief. The cooks weren't in there yet, which left her free to make whatever she wanted for breakfast. Yeah, sure, what the cooks normally made were good for the figure and all, but honestly, it did nothing for her stamina.

She made and ate her breakfast quickly, then glanced up at the wall clock. It was six, which gave her half an hour to get to the field where she was going to meet her team. She was just glad that she didn't have Kakashi as her sensei, or he wouldn't be arriving until about twelve-thirty or so.

Hinata quickly went to the front door, pausing just long enough to pull on her coat and her sandals. She then left the house at a run, tying the Konoha forehead protector around her neck without slowing her pace.

It wasn't that she thought she was at risk of being late – she actually lived fairly close to where the field was. She just wanted to go before her father or Hanabi woke up and gave her yet another pointless lecture.

When she arrived at the field, she seated herself on a large, flat rock, where they always waited for each other. Shino arrived not three minutes later.

"Ohayo, Shino-kun," she said with a gentle smile.

"Ohayo," he replied. She couldn't tell if he was smiling or not due to his coat, but she liked to think he was.

They heard Kiba long before they actually saw him. He was engrossed in yet another one of his arguments with Akamaru, which the other two didn't get at all. However, Hinata assumed that Akamaru was probably always right.

"Ah! Ohayo!" the brunette called as he saw the other two, raising his hand in greeting.

"Ohayo, Kiba-kun," Hinata replied with a smile. Shino merely nodded.

After Kurenai got there, the four of them went about their mission, which was collecting fish for the local orphanage. It was actually a fairly easy process. Shino would suspend one of his insects on a string of chakra, with a shield of chakra around the bug to keep it safe. He would then lower it into the water, and when he pulled it out with a fish, Hinata or Kiba would pin it to a tree with a kunai or a shuriken.

They had to make sure to do it before Akamaru got to the fish, and the dog got to a couple before the others could stop him. It was also training – for Kiba and Hinata, it was target practice, and for Shino, it was training for releasing a constant and thin flow of chakra.

It was also How to Keep Your Pets from Eating Your Food training.

After doing that, they delivered the fish and did some simple one-on-one fighting. Hinata lost all of her matches except for against Akamaru, and left their daily practice feeling a little depressed.

To make matters worse, the instant she got home, she was called into her father's room. He berated her for an hour and a half on the Hyuuga family pride that she was disgracing, how insulting it was that she was still weaker than Hanabi, who was five years younger, and how she needed to work much harder to prove her worth as the Hyuuga family heiress.

The entire time, Hanabi sat beside him, nodding and smirking.

She didn't return to her room until ten o'clock that night. After her father's lecture, she had gone for a walk in the garden. She needed to recollect her thoughts. But the more she thought about it, the more confused she became.

'I can't stay here,' she thought as she sat on the edge of her bed, idly wringing her hands. 'I've barely gotten any stronger in the past years. Kiba-kun and Shino-kun have excelled so much...why not me?

'Maybe Neji-niisan was right...maybe I can't change...' The white eyed girl sighed and closed her eyes.

Suddenly, Naruto's voice rang in her ears...that day he had seen her fight Neji in the Chuunin exam. Telling her that she could do it...that she could beat him...that someone can change...

Hinata opened her eyes again, forcing herself to be determined. 'Well...if I'm not getting any better here...then it's only logical that I go and get better somewhere else.'

She stood, grabbing her large backpack and putting as many necessities as she could fit and leave room for food. Cautiously activating her Byakugan, she scanned the house and found that everyone was asleep. She grabbed her backpack and closed her eyes, channeling chakra to her feet.

By releasing a greater flow than she would if she walked on water, she enabled herself to hover a few inches above the ground. She then quickly made her way downstairs, her feet making no noise on the tile or hardwood along the way.

She scoured the kitchen, taking only some of certain things...such as what there was a lot of, or what wouldn't really be missed. She didn't want the thought of her running away to strike them until she was too far for anything to quickly be done about it.

Not that she feared her family coming after her, of course. However, she knew that doing this would launch Kiba, Naruto, Sakura, Lee, and Tenten into a frenzied, Find the Missing Ninja panic. They, in turn, would launch their entire social circle in a search for her, and she didn't really want to run into that.

So it was best for them to just suspect that she had gone off to be by herself for the day. That way, it would at least give her until the following day to get as far away from Konohagakura as she possibly could.

Heading back upstairs, she made one last check for anything she might have missed. Her eyes fell on a picture that they had all gotten taken recently: it was a large group shot of her, Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Ino, Shikamaru, Choujii, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, and Asuma. It was painfully obvious that some of the members were enjoying the picture FAR more than others, and it was scary seeing Lee and Gai beside each other with the same thumbs up pose, and the same wink. You could even see their teeth shining in the picture.

It also served as a reminder to her of why she needed to do this. She needed to prove to all of them that she was good enough for the title of a Konoha ninja. So, she carefully placed the picture in an unused compartment of her backpack. She then hauled it over her shoulder, resumed air-walking, and began going downstairs.

Before she got to the door to her bedroom, she winced, placing a hand over her heart. She then clamped a hand over her mouth both to stifle a cough and to keep blood from coming out. She swallowed the liquid in her mouth, forcing it to stay down.

She had never fully recovered from her fight with Neji so long ago. Her father had insisted that, as soon as she was out of a critical state, she be transferred to family care. And who would argue with the head of the Hyuuga family? No one, unless they were stupid. And the 'family care' allowed her to get better enough to walk, to eat, to stop coughing up blood for extended periods of time. But she never fully recovered. Whenever she felt great amounts of stress, it acted up again almost as badly as when she had first received it.

Hinata assumed that he wanted her heart to remain weak, but she couldn't figure out why. She was the heir to the Hyuuga, wasn't she? Of course, if she died, that would leave Hanabi as the heiress. He'd love that.

Shaking her head to clear it of such morbid, depressing thoughts, she lowered her hands and shifted her backpack onto her shoulder, heading downstairs.

As she pulled on her coat, she looked up at the clock beside the door – midnight. That gave her roughly thirty-six hours to get as far away from Konohagakura before people began to notice she was gone.

Leaning down to slip on her sandals as fast as possible, she took off in the direction of the town gates, looking at the ramen stand, the ninja school, and Ino's flower shop as she passed. She never thought doing something like this would be so hard...but she knew she had to do it.

She channeled chakra around her backpack, creating an extra lift to enable her to run faster. She didn't know how she was going to get better on her own...but she was determined she was going to.

Neji opened his eyes as he heard a rustle of leaves, his hand automatically flying to his kunai. Remaining in his perch in a large tree, he looked in the direction of the sound, hidden from sight in the branches.

He had been out here meditating when the sun had gone down...he supposed he had fallen asleep. He should have known that it was a bad idea, but it was a little too late to do anything about it now.

His eyes widened when he saw a figure emerge in a clearing just long enough to be seen in the moonlight before it disappeared again.

'Just what are you thinking, Hinata-sama...?' he asked himself as he looked in the direction the girl had gone. Was she...running away? No matter how weak he had always thought she was...that still wasn't like her. If it had been, they never would have fought in the Chuunin exam preliminaries. She would have taken her teammate's advice and quit immediately.

He closed his eyes, jumping out of the tree to another one, back in the direction of the branch family's house. It wasn't his place to correct her, anyway.

"Ah, man, what time is it?"

"It's about ten, judging by the sun."

"I'm gettin' really worried. She's never been this late before...hell, she's never been late before."

"Perhaps we should go to her home. She may be ill."

"Yeah, but wouldn't they have sent us a message or somethin'? I mean, I know we're just training today, but..."

"Knowing her family, they probably would have left it to us to find out what happened."

"Point taken." Kiba sighed as he leaned against a tree and crossed his arms over his chest. He hated it when Shino was right, but he was.

"Kurenai-sensei, what should we do?" he asked as he directed his attention to the red eyed woman.

"Well...I suppose we could make finding Hinata our mission for today," she said with a thoughtful expression. She was severely worried about her subordinate as well.

One thing she had noticed – she hadn't been looking too great after training. Maybe she got hit really hard...but that couldn't have been it. Every time one of the boys hit her too hard, they apologized profusely for it. The funny thing was, the apology seemed to make Hinata angrier than the actual attack did, and she proceeded to beat the shit out of whichever of the two it had been.

"Alright, boys," she said, standing up from the rock and placing her hands on her hips. The two males looked at her, Akamaru giving her a questioning bark. "Operation Find Hyuuga Hinata is on. I'll go by her house – you two ask your friends and anyone who might have come in contact with her. She might just have decided to skip practice, but that's unlikely."

"Hai," the two said with a nod before they all leapt off in different directions.

"Iie, I haven't seen Hinata-sama at all since yesterday," the servant who opened the door told Kurenai. "I assumed she was off on a mission with you, Kurenai-sama."

Kurenai blinked. "Why is that...?" she asked cautiously, fearing the answer.

"Well, her sandals and coat were gone when we woke up. That alone is normal, but the cooks said that some food is missing from the kitchens, and the maid who cleans Hinata-sama's room said that her large backpack and several changes of clothing were all gone as well."

Kurenai nodded numbly. "Well...thank you, let me know if you hear anything."

"Of course, Kurenai-sama."

Kiba found Naruto exactly where he thought he would – at the ramen stand. It actually made his quest a bit easier, since both Kakashi's and Gai's teams were there.

"Ah, Kiba-kun," Kakashi greeted with a wave, looking up from his latest perverted novel. "What brings you here? Ah, silly question. Come, sit with us." He then looked around. "Hm? Where are Shino-kun, Hinata-chan, and Kurenai?"

Kiba sighed. "Yeah, look, I needed to ask all of you about that."

Well, that phrase got all of their attention rather quickly. Well, except for Neji, who remained passive as always. Plus the fact that he already knew what had happened.

"Shino, Kurenai-sensei, and I are all out looking for Hinata. Have any of you seen her lately?" the brunette asked, sounding and looking just a little more desperate than he intended.

"Eh? Hinata-chan's gone?" Naruto asked as soon as he had swallowed his mouthful of ramen.

Shino had roughly the same idea as Kiba. Find ramen, find Naruto – find barbeque, find Choujii.

He briefly reflected on any reasons that would make Asuma dumb enough to treat Meat Tank Boy to all-you-can-eat barbeque again, but quickly shook it off as he headed to their usual table.

As he expected, he saw Choujii shoveling the meat into his mouth as fast as he possibly could, Asuma smoking and laughing, and Shikamaru and Ino watching Choujii with morbid fascination.

The insect trainer coughed slightly to get their attention. They all looked at him, and Shino mused on how much Choujii looked like a grossly overweight chipmunk with all that meat in his mouth at once.

"Have any of you seen Hinata?" he asked quietly, never being one to 'beat around the bush'.

"Eh?" Ino asked, leaning over Shikamaru, causing him to sweatdrop massively. "What do you mean?"

"She never showed up for training today."

Exactly what Hinata had feared occurred much earlier than she had assumed it would. All four teams had reassembled at the field to wait for Kurenai.

When she told them what the servant had told her, Kiba, Naruto, Sakura, Lee, and Tenten went into a frenzied, Find the Missing Ninja panic. As a result, they forced the rest of them to help scour the entire area.

In fact, it was surprising that they didn't get the whole village to help, seeing as how no one could hear anything over their screams of 'HINATA!' with various suffixes attached to it.

At around seven that evening, Kurenai stopped long enough to look at the setting sun. 'Hinata...where are you...?'

By the time they the Find the Missing Ninja panic had begun, Hinata was already near the edge of the forest. She looked around as she finally got out, seeing how drastic the scenery had changed.

Judging by the setting sun, she had gone south, which would place her in the County of Wind. The area was getting a desert-like feel to it, as well, and she wondered if she was anywhere near Sunagakura.

She then looked around slowly. She had to find somewhere relatively safe to sleep, and fast. She backtracked slightly, back into the forest, and began scanning the trees and surrounding area with her Byakugan. Finding nothing poisonous or even relatively dangerous anywhere near, she leapt up into a rather large tree. She assumed that this was probably the best place to stay hidden from anyone who might enter the forest while she was asleep.

She curled up as best as she could and closed her eyes, glad she had her coat. It was going to be a long night.

"And no one's seen a trace of her?" Kakashi asked once they had all reassembled in the field. They had decided that when the stars came out, that was when they would stop for the day.

"We'll look more tomorrow, anyone who cares to join us," Asuma added.

"Demo, demo," Naruto interjected. "What if she's hurt? Or lost? Or...or...or..."

Kakashi's hand on the blonde's head stopped his ramblings. "I'm sure she'll be fine. She's gotten pretty good at fighting – I've heard the stories of her beating Kiba and Shino into oblivion."

"Kurenai-sensei!" Kiba yelled, glaring at his teacher, who just laughed.

Shino sighed. "Well, they're all true, Kiba." The boy with the painted face just growled and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Everyone, go home and get to bed. We aren't doing her any good just standing out here and arguing."

They all mumbled consents, heading in the directions of their respective houses. The four sensei watched them all leave.

"Is it a good idea to put off everything else for the time being?" Asuma asked, lighting another cigarette.

Kakashi looked over at him. "I don't know, but this is what Hokage-sama would want us to do, anyway. Besides, how do you propose getting Kiba-kun, Naruto-kun, Sakura-kun, Lee-kun, or Tenten-kun to do anything else? You saw how they reacted when they found out she went missing, and they all probably think someone twice as sinister as Orochimaru kidnapped her."

"That's probably right," Gai said with a laugh. He then sighed. "But honestly...do you think she'll be alright?"

"I think she will," Kurenai said quietly. "I believe that if she is, in fact, gone...that she left on her own free will. I can't imagine why she'd do such a thing, but she's a level-headed girl. She wouldn't do it without a good reason."

"True," Gai consented. "I think we should take our own advice for once, as well. We should all get to bed too. If we're going to be looking for her, it'd be best if we were in good condition."

Near dawn, Hinata lost her balance in the tree, landing flat on her back.

"Itai..." she muttered, sitting up and rubbing her head.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a man's voice asked. Hinata's eyes shot open as a little squeak escaped her lips, her face shooting up towards the sound to see a man at least three times her size staring down at her.

He smirked. "Hello, little lady. You wanna come play with me?"

Hinata was too shocked by both his sudden appearance and her fall from the tree. She backed away slightly, managing to mutter, "G-go a-away..."

He glared at her, reaching out to grab her by the arm. His glare intensified when she slapped his arm away.

"That's it," he said, pulling out a knife. "I was gonna make it pleasant for you, but I see that I have no choice now."

She stood up and made to run before he kicked her leg. She hadn't completely gotten her balance and couldn't jump to avoid it, and the instant before the kick connected, she realized with horror that he was wearing steel toed boots.

The crack of her lower right leg breaking and her scream filled the entire forest.

She landed hard and immediately curled up into the only defensive position she could get herself into due to the pain.

She laid there for what seemed like years, but nothing happened. Nothing but the sound of rustling...leaves...?

That wasn't what leaves sounded like.

It sounded like...sand.

Hinata slowly opened her eyes and looked at where the man had been. In his place was a large pile of sand, which was retreating up a tree.

Her vision was swimming from the pain as her eyes followed the sand's path.

"You should be more alert in this area of the forest. Sleeping isn't wise," a cold voice said.

She only had one thought before she passed out.

'Sabaku...no Ga...Gaara...?'

Hinata opened her eyes with a groan. Was she still in the tree? It...didn't feel like she was in a tree.

Slowly looking around, she realized that she was in a large bed with white silk sheets. She blinked before sitting up, instantly regretting it as a sharp pain shot through her leg. She gave a little cry, falling back onto the mattress.

She didn't even hear the door open as she clenched the sheet in her fists and breathed through clenched teeth.

"Ah...I see you're awake." Her eyes shot open again as she redirected her attention to the sound of the voice.

A beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes smiled faintly at her, her hands on her hips. Hinata thought she recognized her, but she wasn't sure why...until she noticed the Suna forehead protector around her neck.

"Am I...in Sunagakura...?" she asked quietly, her voice still shaky from the pain.

"Hai," the woman said as she pulled a chair up next to the bed, sitting down. "You're Hyuuga Hinata, correct?"

Hinata could only manage a small nod. "How...?"

"I remember you from the Chuunin exam," she said, tapping her temple. "I have a good memory. I'm Temari, the sand nin."

Hinata's eyes widened slightly. "Hai, I remember! You're the one who fought Tenten-chan!"

Temari nodded. "Hai." She then sighed. "You're lucky to be here. Don't worry about your leg, it'll be fine soon. You've been out for about two days, and during that time, we went ahead and got surgery done for you.

"It should be completely healed in three days. You could probably walk on it now, if you were so inclined, but I'd wait for the three days to pass. And it'll still hurt for awhile – you just had surgery, and you haven't moved for forty-eight hours. But just give it some time."

"Arigatou...demo..." she began, looking down at her hands. "I...I can't repay you..."

Temari waved a hand, giving a small 'meh' sound. "Don't sweat it. I'm the Kazekage's daughter, I'm not exactly hurting for money. Besides, we're Konoha's allies, and it wouldn't be too good for relations if we let the heiress of the head family suffer with a broken leg."

Hinata smiled at her, nodding. "Arigatou, Temari-san...you're very kind."

"Don't worry about it."

"Oh...ano..." she began, playing with her fingers.

"Hm? Nani?"

"Was...was the one who saved me..."

"It was Gaara," Temari said, smiling gently at her. "Actually, I was quite surprised when he showed up with you. He said, in his typical good-natured tone," she added sarcastically, "that you got assaulted and your leg broken before you could defend yourself. He wouldn't say any more than that.

"By the way...what were you doing so far from Konoha by yourself?"

"Oh...um...I ran away from home to do some training. I felt that...they were going to easy on be back at home, and that I wasn't getting any stronger."

Temari blinked before grinning. "Ah...training, eh?" She leaned back in the chair, crossing her legs and her arms. "Well, you aren't gonna get too far with that, if you're doing it by yourself."

"That's what I was afraid of," she muttered. "But I knew everyone else would have just told me to stay where I was, and that wasn't doing me any good, so..."

"I understand, Hinata-chan," the blonde sand nin said with a nod. "Ya know...I like you. You've got a lot of spirit. You could use some self-confidence, but we can take care of a problem like that in no time. So how about staying here and training for a while?"

The white eyed girl blinked up at her. "Eh? Hontou?"

Temari grinned at her. "Sure. You can even have this room, if you want. We have plenty of places to train, after all. You can go at your own pace, and if you need a partner, I'm always looking for someone to train with. If you're feeling brave, you could even ask Baki-sensei or Kankurou. And if you're feeling really brave, you could ask Gaara."

"Ah, hai," Hinata smiled, nodding, a bright smile on her face. "Arigatou goizamashita!"

"Don't sweat it. You hungry?"

"Why'd you do it?"

"Why do you keep asking me that?"

"I'm not used to seeing acts of goodwill coming from you, that's all."

"Hn." Kankurou sighed. Getting information out of Gaara was like trying to interrogate a brick wall. Actually...you'd have more luck with the brick wall, because it wasn't as likely to hurt you.

Gaara sighed and shifted in the chair beside the window, causing the two bracelets around his wrist to give a metallic 'ching'.

Kankurou had to admit, the red haired hothead was a lot easier to deal with now that Shukaku's bloodlust had pretty much disappeared and Gaara had managed to lock him into those bracelets. Well, the demon was in one, and a portion of his power was in the other. Gaara could remove the second one whenever he liked, and if he gave it to someone, it was an offer to them as his protection.

Not that Gaara was one to do something like that.

"...she intrigued me," the boy said dully, surprising his older sibling. Kankurou hadn't expected any form of response at all.

"Whatever floats your boat. Ja ne," the hooded male said, headed out of the room.

Gaara resumed his thoughts. He remembered the Hyuuga girl from a long time ago. She had looked so determined when he had saved her from that man. He still wasn't sure why he did it – his body had acted on its own.

But she actually tried to at least get away...she didn't cower in fear like he had seen many females do before. He felt they deserved to die, just staying and letting the assaulting male do whatever he wanted.

The redhead shook himself and stood up. Now wasn't a good time to be thinking about what his...'emotions'...might have been at the time. He was too hungry at the moment.

Starr: Aww, ever the noble one.

Gaara: Shut up.

Hinata: I like my legs in one piece...

Temari: I have a friend! Yay!

Kankurou: (Looks at Temari oddly) Did you get into the sugar again?

Starr: Right! Now...THANK YOUS TO FRIENDLY REVIEWERS!

M-python-girl: Here ya go, I'm writing more (Smile, smile) Yeah, that's what I thought...I dunno, I had figured I was just insane or something (Coughs) Maybe it's the normal ones who are insane...

Ah-choo: Ah-heh...hai, I'm bad at things like that. But they had to figure out that she had a crush, and I didn't see it as...appropriate for her to just say it in front of EVERYONE! So...I saw a sleepover as far more suited to the situation. And I liked the bracelet thing too – is fun.

Cheza-Pizza: Indeed.

Xoni Newcomer: Oh, trust me, our Neji-kun is going to have quite a bit of OOC attitude going on a bit later in the story. I even have the beginnings of a fight scene planned out! Woohoo!

Midnight Blossom: Ah, everything about Hinata is sweet. She's almost...cavity-inducing sweet. But I loved the flashback too.

shikaruTo: YES! BOYS! WOO! Well, that is, as long as they're interesting boys...but hey, if they're cute, they don't need to be interesting...man, I'm hanging around my sister too much, she's making me shallow (Nervous laugh) Oh well!

Anime-Is-My-Life: Yeah...aye...you know what? This chapter is even longer than the last one, and I said it'd be shorter...man, I have no foresight. Hindsight's 20/20, though, as usual. I'm glad you liked it enough to share it with your friends. Ah, the pride of writing. And...some of her friends are going to be less than thrilled when they find out the identity, lemme tell ya...

wayfarer-redemption: Yay! Someone else who likes my story! Yeah, the only pairing I was going to have was Gaara and Hinata, but when I got to the part with Sakura thinking, I decided, 'You know, she and Lee would be cute together'. Kinda the same as with Tenten and Neji...and Kiba getting his crush (BLUSHING KIBA! So cute, want plushie.) I don't know where the Shikamaru and Ino thing came from (better him than Choujii)...

Starr: Woo! So...glad people are liking it thus far. Like I said, chapter three will continue Hinata's flashback...and yes, it's a little unrealistic for her to have a flashback to places she wasn't at. Deal with it, it makes the story less vague.

Kiba, Naruto, Sakura, Lee, and Tenten: (Have no idea that the chapter has ended and are still in their frenzied, Find the Missing Ninja panic)

Starr: CALM DOWN! ...Anyways! (Waves) Ja ne!