A/N: This chapter is going to be more fangirlish than the others, sorry. ;.; My friends wanted powers.
OMG it's Gaara!
Chapter Five: No Frickin Way.
She woke up leaned against a tree, and groaned. "Gaara-san?" He dropped from above, landing in front of her.
"Yes?" Riia looked around at the grassy surroundings.
"Where are we? And where are Cathryn, Gretchen, Sam, and Amy?"
"They're over there," he said, pointing to them. The girls were sitting in a circle, all of them very afraid and worried.
"So, where are we?" This time Gaara pointed through the trees. Riia's eyes followed his finger, and recoiled in shock as she spotted the symbol of the village hidden in the leaves. "No way…" She blinked. The leaf symbol was still there. "No frickin' way." Riia scrambled over to her friends.
"Riia! You're awake!"
"Yup! Did Gaara tell you where we are yet?"
"No, why?"
"We're in the NARUTO-VERSE!" Everyone went stiff with shock. Sam recovered first, and let off a string of curses.
"Oh my holy fish paste!" Trust Amy to come up with the most ridiculous phrases.
"Hoooly crap…" Gretchen was stunned stiff. Cathryn got up and almost ran into a tree before Riia grabbed her by the collar.
"What the heck are you doing?"
"Trying to get back to our world… Eh…" Riia shook her head, and let go. She sat them all down, and joined the circle.
"Since we don't know how we got here, we won't be able to get back. So we're all just going to have to deal with it for now. Before we set foot in Konohagakure, we're all going to have to do a little training." Riia grinned. "Gaara-san, you're going to stay out of this, please, until one of us feels we can take you on." He nodded. "I –" She whipped out the Sunagakure headband she'd bought a few weeks earlier, and tied it on her head. "- Have the good fortune to own a headband. I still have to train, though."
"Train for what?"
"We're not going to pass off as ninja if we don't train. Does anyone not want to be a ninja?" No one spoke up. Riia grinned, and clapped her hands together. "Okay!" Then something stopped her.
"What is it?" asked Gretchen.
"I just thought of something. Look at how you're dressed, compared to how Gaara's dressed. We're going to stand out way too much, ninja or not. Hm." She placed a hand on her chin in thought.
"We could just go into the Leaf Village and buy some clothes."
"Yeah, but we'd still stand out..."
"Oh well!" Sam grabbed Riia and Amy by the collars and started dragging them towards the village gate. Gretchen, Cathryn, and Gaara followed them. When they reached the gate, Gaara persuaded the gatekeeper to let them in, saying they were with him. Once inside the village, despite Riia's protests that she wanted to look around, Sam made a beeline for the first clothing shop she saw.
"You four outsiders?" asked the shopkeeper. Sam nodded assent, and dumped her friends by her feet.
"No wandering off, okay, Riia?"
"But I wanna see Naruto! And Kakashi!"
"No. Didn't you want us to not stand out?"
"Yes..." She stood up, and looked around at the clothes. In the end she picked out what looked like a small black kimono with red edges, though the shopkeeper had assured them it was very flexible, a ninja's typical netted undershirt, which looked a lot like Gaara's, and ninja's sandals. She tied her rather short blond hair up in a bun, and shoved two ornamental chopsticks through it. "Gaara-san, could you...? We don't have any useable money." He nodded curtly, and waited for Riia's friends to pick out their outfits.
Gretchen selected a grayish top that ended just above her midriff and held itself up with a thick strap across her right shoulder. Her pants were white versions of Gaara's pants, though the left leg was tied off just above her knee. Sam had picked out a ragged looking black short-sleeved shirt, and battered black shorts. She also chose a rainbow sash. Cathryn found a long black and purple shirt, and black leggings. And a sword hung from her belt. Amy's outfit was the least ninja-like. She hadn't taken off her Converses, and had chosen a pair of camo pants, and a black shirt with elbow-length sleeves. Riia stared long and hard at her friend.
"Amy."
"What?"
"You really don't look like a ninja."
"So?"
"You need to look like one. Guys!" The others came, and agreed that they should pick out a different outfit for Amy. They came up with a rather generic ninja's outfit. Black shirt whose sleeves turned to netting at the elbows, and pants like Gaara's. They also picked out gloves closely resembling Kakashi's, but let her keep the Converses.
"There," said Sam, content with Amy's outfit. Gaara paid, and they left the store.
"Yeah!" Riia punched the air, and ran off towards the village gates. She skidded to a halt once there, and waited for her friends. They caught up fairly quickly, and made to run off to the forest, but Gretchen grabbed her kimono, dragged her back, and ran ahead, laughing. Riia grinned, and raced after her. Sam, Amy, and Cathryn, hurried to catch up, but Gaara decided to take his time. When he caught up with the girls, they were leaned against a large tree, panting. He rolled his eyes.
"Now then. Sparring." Riia cut him off.
"Not... yet, Gaara. We're... out of breath." Gaara nodded tersely, and waited. "Okay!" Riia bounced off the tree, and looked expectantly at Gaara. He sighed, and started again.
"Sparring. You all know why we're doing this, and if you don't, you're a bigger idiot than Naruto. During sparring, you are to act like you have never seen your opponent in your life. I do not want weak matches because you are friends. I realize this is going to be hard, but work on it. A ninja must be ruthless." He exhaled. "There are five of you, but since Riia is training with me at the moment-"
"Why is SHE training with you?" interrupted Gretchen.
"Because she can – to a lesser extent – control sand. I am teaching her to develop this ability. It also leaves an even number for sparring matches."
"Oh."
"Since Riia is training with me, as I said, that leaves four for sparring. Gretchen, you will spar with Sam, and Amy with Cathryn."
"How do we spar?" Gaara looked at Cathryn with a blank, yet disgusted face.
"How do you spar? You punch, kick, and stab at each other until one is in the position where the other has the opportunity to kill them." Cathryn looked mildly frightened at this. "Speaking of which, here are some wooden shuriken I found. They will do until we get you the real thing." He gave each girl two shuriken, and all but Cathryn immediately stuffed them into their shuriken holsters. Riia poked her friend.
"It goes in there," she said, pointing to the small navy band attached to her thigh. Cathryn put them in, and looked back at Gaara.
"Cathryn and Amy, you will go over there." He pointed to an area a couple of yards away, then pointed Gretchen and Sam to an area the same distance away in the opposite direction. All four walked off tentatively. Gaara watched them, disgusted when they just stood there for a while. He shook his head, and turned to Riia.
"Before you learn how to manipulate sand, you need an understanding of chakra, and how to manipulate it." Riia nodded. "Do you know what chakra is?"
"Um... the energy a ninja needs to perform jutsus and stuff."
"Right. Know where it comes from?"
"Physical energy and spiritual energy gotten from training."
"Good. Hand seals convert chakra into different jutsu, depending on what seals are used."
"Like, when you use the rooster for Sabakukyû?"
"I guess so. Now we work on actually focusing your chakra." He put his hands together, in the Rat seal. "Do what I do." Riia nodded, and mimicked Gaara's hands. He deftly changed Rat to Ox, and Riia did the same. Tiger, Monkey, Boar, then Gaara stopped.
"What?"
"You need sand before we can do anything."
"Can't I use yours?"
"No."
"Why?" Silence. "Okay, so where would we get it without abandoning everybody for Sunagakure?" More silence. Only this time, it was thoughtful silence.
"I… don't… know." Riia's eyes lit up.
"Isn't there a sandbox in Konoha?"
"I guess there would be."
"You go look for it then!"
"Why just me?"
"Cause I wanna see what everyone else is doing." Gaara sighed, and stalked off to the village. Riia played with the hand seals for a while, and then went over to Gretchen and Sam. "Whatcha doin'?" They looked at her for a bit.
"Trying to figure out how to start," admitted Gretchen. Riia grinned, and caught Gretchen across the face with a swift punch. Sam gaped at her for a while.
"That's how you start!" And scampered away when Gretchen recovered from both the shock and pain.
"What the hell was that for, Riia?" She started to chase after her friend before Riia stopped suddenly, and turned around.
"That was to help you start your sparring match. With SAM. Not me."
"But you-"
"I know what I did! Now spar with Sam!" Riia ran, grinning, to Cathryn and Amy. Amy rounded on her almost immediately, though playfully.
"I saw what you did to Gretchen," she teased. Riia mimicked her own previous actions, then skipped away behind a tree.
"Pretend Cathryn hit you!"
"Riia!"
"Eep!" She whirled around, and saw… no one. She put on a confused face.
"Up here, baka." Riia looked, and saw Gaara standing upside down on a tree branch. He looked rather mad.
"Don't call me baka!" Gaara dropped from the tree, and landed on his feet in front of her, a sand-filled bag in his hand.
"Why?"
"Because… Because I'm older than you?" Gaara shook his head, and grabbed her by the ear. She winced as he dragged her back to their spot.
"As long as I'm stronger than you, age has no bearing on it." Riia sighed, and slumped against a tree. She poked the bag as Gaara set it in front of her.
"That my sand?"
"Yes. Straight from the Konoha sandbox. Be lucky no one saw me," he snarled. "Now you need to soak it in your-"
"Blood?"
"No, chakra. Blood comes after you've killed someone."
"Oh. How do I do that?"
"What, kill someone?"
"No, enhance the sand with my chakra."
"Just make the hand seal you're most comfortable with, and focus on the sand." Riia nodded, and opened the navy bag. Gaara went off to the others, and Riia laughed to herself when she heard him nearly yelling at them for not sparring properly. She put her hands in the tiger seal, closed her eyes, and filled her mind with sand. Had her eyes been open, she would have seen the sand glowing faintly. Riia continued for quite a while, until a question popped into her mind. How long do I have to do this for? She wasn't sure, so she decided not to stop unless Gaara told her to. Fortunately, he came around fairly quickly, and poked her in the head.
"You can stop now." Riia opened her eyes, and was shocked to find the sand now a rather pale reddish-tan color.
"Is it done?"
"From the discoloring of the sand, I'd say yes." Riia punched the air.
"Yeah!"
"Now then…" Gaara uncorked his gourd, and Riia tensed. "Relax. I'm going to show you how to use Suna no Tate. Might be a little tough, seeing as how this is done regardless of my will, but unless you want a demon forced inside you…" Riia grimaced.
"I'd rather be taught." Gaara nodded.
"Draw the sand within the sphere of your chakra. It should be about this wide." He demonstrated, bringing a circle of sand around six feet in diameter around him.
"Do I need a hand seal?"
"If it makes you comfortable. You should try to learn this without one, though." Riia nodded, and decided to simply focus on bringing the sand just within the limits of her chakra. Slowly, the sand spilled out of the bag, and circled her feet, slightly smaller than Gaara's. He looked mildly surprised.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing..." he trailed off.
"Come on."
"Never mind. Moving on." He drew the sand upward around himself, obscuring most of his body. "The harder part of this will be making the sand hard. When you start out, likely you will be able to bring the sand up, but you're going to have to work on making it harder than steel." Riia nodded, and brought the sand up. It obeyed less objectively than she thought it would. Suddenly Gaara brought a fist down on the wall. It held for a second, and then gave in. "See? Need to work on that." The rest of Riia's day consisted of almost, but not quite, getting Suna no Tate correctly.
At the end of the day, she could bring up a wall of sand almost immediately in response to an attack from any direction, though the wall was not much stronger than semi-hard wood. Gaara glanced at the sky, and noticed that the stars were visible already. He clapped his hands. "All done. Come on, let's go get your friends."
Riia nodded, and put the sand back in her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. They went to Gretchen and Sam first.
Gretchen was staring at shock at her fist, which seemed to have acquired several large, white… claw things. "Gretchen…" Riia started, "What are those?"
"Honestly, I think they're my bones. I went to punch Sam… and they just slid out of my skin! Eh!" Riia's eyes widened.
"Gretchen… that's the kekkei genkei of the Kaguya clan!"
"Eh wat?"
"THEY CAN MANIPULATE THEIR BONES! And they're supposed to have just one living member left, Kimimaro. You could, like, use your leg bone as a spear, or something! And grow a new one back to replace it!" Gretchen grinned at her knuckles.
"So cool…"
"Sam, you discover anything?"
"Um… I'm really fast. Does that count?" Riia thought for a moment.
"Attack Gaara." Sam hesitated, before launching a fist at his face. The Suna no Tate came up… but not soon enough. Sam's punch connected with Gaara's nose, and while it was not enough to do anything but bruise him…
"Sam's an Uchiha!"
"What?"
"You're fast enough to evade Gaara's Suna no Tate! Sasuke can do that, and so can you! And Sasuke and Itachi are supposed to be the only living members! Whoo!"
"Does that mean anything other than that I'm fast?"
"You've got the Sharingan. You have to activate it, though. C'mon." Riia lead the others to Amy and Cathryn. Amy had her arm outstretched, and was chasing Cathryn in circles, a grin on her face. Riia stopped Cathryn. "What happened?"
"Amy's hand is evil! She tripped, and went to grab my shoulder for support, and it started glowing and all of a sudden I felt really tired!" Amy caught up with them, and stopped in front of Riia.
"It's true! But I didn't do it on purpose."
"Amy, lemme see your hand." Riia poked it, and started glowing again. When Riia began to feel drained, she pulled her finger away. "Amy, how do you feel?"
"Refreshed, kinda."
"Amy has Yoroi's talent!" Gaara stared at her.
"You mean that chakra-sucking ninja from the first round of the preliminaries?"
"Yup." Amy put a grin on her face, and looked at her hand.
"Cool!"
"Cathryn, did you find anything?"
"No."
"Okay, then. All back to Konoha to find us somewhere to sleep! I'm staying with Gaara, and, let's see... Sam, you can stay with Amy, and Gretchen with Cathryn-"
"Nope! I want my own place!" Gretchen exclaimed.
"Okay, then Gretchen and Cathryn have their own little apartmenty thingies." They all walked back to the gate, got in, and Gaara led them to where he stayed.
"So, you're all getting apartments by here?"
"Yup!" The girls split up, and chose their dwellings.
"I suppose I'm paying?"
"You have to. We don't have any useable money." Riia grinned at him, and Gaara turned away, shaking his head. Riia followed him, a smile on her face. Gaara turned, and opened his door, glancing at Riia warily. She tilted her head in question, and he turned back to his room, entering it. Riia slipped in as well.
Gaara exhaled.
"That's right, I forgot. You're staying with me. Why?"
"Because... I love you?" Gaara stared at her for a bit. He rolled his eyes.
"Fine. You'll sleep on my bed. You know I don't sleep, right?"
"Gaara-sama, I know more about you than YOU do." She smiled.
"Okay..." He rolled his eyes again, and set a tatami mat on the floor.
"You're just going to sit on that all night?"
"Maybe not." Riia saw no point in asking what he was gonna do.
"Do I get any pajamas?" The stare she got said no. Riia sighed, and brushed herself off, before flopping down on Gaara's bed. She stared up at the ceiling, arms crossed behind her head. "Gaara-sama?"
"Hai?"
"What do you think of me? Honestly?" The question surprised him, and he was at a loss for words.
"I... think you're a very interesting individual." Riia smiled, and pulled the sheets over herself, turning away from Gaara, and falling asleep.