Naruto studied the man before him. From what he could tell, he and the Hokage were about the same age- or at least, Naruto's human body looked to be about the same age.
The Hokage had dark hair, pale skin, and eyes as black as coal.
"Reinforcement from Sand, you said?" The Hokage frowned
"Yeah- I was sent by Kazekage-sama, but the other people with me died." Naruto said, attempting to express sorrow for his 'dead comrades'. The Hokage studied him with his piercing dark eyes, apparently still suspicious.
"Fine. We'll let you help- but only on guard duty until we're sure. You understand, we can't take another soldier of... questionable origin. Konoha's lost about half her population already. You'll be paired with Kakashi for the time being." A bored-looking nin with spikey grey hair and a young face stepped out from behind the young Hokage, nodding.
"Nice to meet you." Naruto said, grinning.
"Report for duty at seven'o'clock at the front gate- morning shift." The Hokage said. "Welcome to the Hidden Village of Leaf." Naruto's eyes bugged out of his head.
"Seven!"
"Yes. Dismissed." the Hokage said. "I suggest you find a place to sleep." Naruto turned, not missing the small smirk on the Hokage's face. He walked away, grumbling.
Sasuke's smile faded as he watched the young man- Uzumaki Naruto- walk away. A determined look took its place.
"Kakashi." he said, knowing the nin would hear him.
"Yeah, Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi said, drawing a book from his pocket and flipping it opened to the bookmark. Sasuke ignored the familiar tone that Kakashi used- the man had been his teacher and would probably always see him as his student, even if he did have to follow Sasuke's orders.
"Be careful around him- I want you to watch him. Whenever not on guard duty, your mission is to gather information about him. Got it?"
"Aa." Kakashi said, as though he expected it. Knowing him, he probably had. "Anything else?"
"That's all. You may go now." Quietly, Kakashi disappeared, leaving Uchiha Sasuke- the Hokage- to reflect about his decision.
'What is it about that man- Uzumaki Naruto? I could tell he was lying- so why the hell did I let him stay?' Sasuke shook his head, ignoring the recognition his soul had felt when he had seen the blonde.
Gaara slowly followed Nekoi and Yami, smirking inwardly.
'They're so desperate for reinforcements that they'd take anyone.' he thought. 'I'll have no trouble defeating this guy, and then all the secrets of their military will be open to me.' As Gaara saw it, only the small man walking ahead of him with Yami stood between him and the end of his mission.
Gaara heard the murmur of conversation ahead of him. Slightly curious, he listened.
"-will you go out with me?" Nekoi was saying. For some odd reason, Gaara felt the first slight stirrings of anger.
"No." Yami said, sounding slightly tired, as if she had heard this question a dozen times before.
"Why not?" Nekoi asked, sounding very confident.
'A womanizer- probably not used to be refused.' Gaara thought, now smirking outwardly at the fact that Yami had refused him.
"The war, for one. The fact that it's you for another." Yami said, turning and glaring at Nekoi.
"The war is no big deal." Nekoi said confidently. Gaara was beginning to like him less and less- he would enjoy teaching this particular human a lesson. "I'm strong- I'll protect you, Yami."
Gaara almost growled. Something about Yami was drawing him in- he felt connected to her, though he couldn't explain how. The urge to protect her was almost overwhelming. Almost as if...
Gaara stopped suddenly, processing his thoughts.
He had heard other demons- mated demons- describe the connection they had felt upon meeting their mate. Often they had disregarded it before realizing their attraction to the other.
'It's probably nothing more than commonplace lust. It'll pass.' Gaara thought. He tried to recall when the last full moon was- last week.
'That can't be right.' Gaara traced back the phases of the moon. It would have been a full moon last week- he shouldn't lust for anything, be it sex or blood until the next full moon. Demons had cycles, and his kind were always more dangerous around the full moon. He shouldn't be feeling like this, unless...
Unless the soul-deep connection he felt with the human woman- Yami- meant what he thought it did.
Gaara shoved the feelings aside, deciding to examine them in-depth later. It wouldn't help him now.
"Are you coming or not?" Gaara blinked, realizing that Nekoi was calling to him from about ten feet ahead. Nekoi looked exasperated, as if he had been calling for a while.
"Scared? Don't worry, I'll go easy on you. I am a jonin, after all. I can see why you'd be intimidated." Nekoi said. Gaara fought down the urge to kill the other man then and there.
'I have killed hundreds with more strength than you- oftentimes all at once.' Gaara thought privately.
"How much farther?" he asked instead.
"Another ten minutes. No spacing out." Nekoi said. "You could get hurt. It's dangerous."
'You're playing with fire, lecturing me about danger. It's staring you in the face.' Gaara thought. "Walk, then."
Nekoi rolled his eyes, then sighed in an obviously overexaggerated fashion and began to walk again, occasionally hitting on Yami, pissing Gaara off to no end even if Gaara would not yet admit it.
"We're here." Yami said, anger evident in her voice. She tossed Gaara his confiscated weapons pouch, knowing he'd need it if he was going to fight Nekoi. She would much rather be at her apartment at the moment, but instead she had to spend time with Nekoi- the Creep as she liked to call him- and a strange man who may or may not be a demon.
'Oh, joy!' Yami thought, heavy on the sarcasm, watching Gaara catch the punch and fasten it to his leg.
"Yes we are. Are you ready?" Nekoi asked Gaara, going to the middle of the large, flat area of sand they had arrived at. Gaara looked around. The sand was packed, creating a nice layer on which to walk or fight. The area was wide enough to fight easily, and no rocks or other objects littered the surface.
"Yes. Are you?" Gaara asked, face expressionless as he mocked the nin. Nekoi glared, seemingly able to grasp the fact that he was being looked down on by Gaara.
"Begin." Yami said, just as Nekoi leaped at Gaara, drawing a kunai and bringing it down to where Gaara's shoulder was. It would have been painful, had it connected. A second before it hit, Gaara grabbed Nekoi's wrist and turned. Something cracked loudly, but then Nekoi disappeared, leaving Gaara holding a log, one of the branches broken off in his hand.
Gaara turned, just in time to catch one of Nekoi's punches in his hand, just before Nekoi broke his nose.
"That was one of the most obvious tricks in the book." Gaara said, looking bored. Nekoi's face was twisted with rage.
"Damn you." he said, then yanked his hand free and flipped over Gaara's head, going for a kick that would knock Gaara out. Gaara simply dropped and rolled, getting to his feet just in time to see Nekoi rush in. Quickly, Gaara dodged the first swing, then the second before throwing an uppercut to Nekoi's gut.
"Ugh..." Nekoi moaned, rolling away from Gaara and getting up to his feet shakily.
"Is that all?" Gaara asked. Nekoi glared, shaking his head.
"Oh, no it's not. Now the gloves come off." Quickly, Nekoi started to move his hands in certain strange ways- Gaara had heard them referred to as 'seals'. He knew their end result, though- a jutsu, a technique that many ninja used by manipulating their chakra. Demons also had chakra, but they could naturally manipulate it to do as they desired. Humans had a more difficult time- thus the seals, Gaara supposed.
The seals stopped suddenly, and Nekoi disappeared. Gaara just had time to be alarmed before he felt a hard hit across his jawbone, knocking his head to the side and making him lose his footing. He fell, rolling with the blow, and stood, rubbing his cheek.
"You're quick." he said. Nekoi smirked and put his foot down from his kicking position.
"I'm known for my speed jutsus. No one has been able to beat me yet." Nekoi bragged. Gaara felt a vague memory stirring- reports of demons taken out before they had seen the nins move.
'It must take a lot of energy, though. He can't do too many more.' Gaara thought, seeing Nekoi make the hand motions again.
"I'll give you this, though- not many have stayed up after my first hit when I use this jutsu." Nekoi completed the seals and disappeared again. Gaara had no time to react before he felt a punch hit his gut. He breathed out hard, coughing a little, before collapsing to his knees.
'He's fast.' Gaara acknowledged. 'I can't react before he hits me.' Gaara wasn't too fond of being hit unless the mission called for it. This mission didn't call for it.
"That's all you're known for? Your speed?" Gaara said, standing up slowly and reaching behind himself to the stopper on his gourd. "Since you showed me your best, I'll show you what I am known for." Gaara didn't mention that he rarely used his sand for this kind of combat- it was his way of turning back into his demon self, but he could also use it as a human, if need be.
Gaara began to randomly move his hands, not really noticing the pattern, but he knew that the humans would get suspicious if he didn't seem to rely on seals as all the human ninja did. He may as well paint the word 'demon' of his forhead if he just manipulated his chakra without the seals.
He stopped the hand motions, then stood still.
"Come." he said, motioning Nekoi forward as he commanded the sand in his gourd to flow out, getting ready to protect himself. Nekoi looked shocked, but then angry as he performed the seals again and darted forward. Gaara held still, not needing to move.
Nekoi aimed his kick at the small of Gaara's back, but before he could connect sand collected and stopped his leg.
"What the-" he said, jumping back rather ungracefully. Gaara looked over his shoulder.
"You'll have to be quicker. Very little gets past this jutsu." Gaara said calmly, easily adopting the human way of calling his attack a jutsu.
Nekoi snarled at him and prepared to do his speed jutsu again, but was very obviously getting tired. Before he could so much as complete one seal, Gaara extended his hand and encased his opponent in a blanket of sand, leaving just his face visible. He kept his hand out as he looked at Yami.
"I could kill him now, but that's not in the rules. The match is over." Gaara said. Yami just stared, surprised at how quickly things had changed in the fight.
"Okay... Gaara wins." she said, walking up to Gaara smiling. "Good job." Gaara didn't look at her, instead sneering at Nekoi.
"Be careful- it's dangerous. I guess you weren't ready." Gaara said, releasing Nekoi and letting him fall to the ground. Nekoi landed on his feet and ran at Gaara, murder in his eyes.
"Damn you!" Nekoi shouted, grabbing a kunai and aiming for Gaara's throat. He had never been so humiliated! Beaten in front of the only woman that had ever refused him when he had made so many proud declarations! He swung the knife down, intending to kill. He didn't even hear as Yami shouted at him, telling him that the match was over.
"Die!" he yelled, but suddenly his kunai was gone. A second later, he felt a searing pain on his face. He screamed, dropping to his knees.
"Ouch!" he shouted, bringing his hands up to his face. He could feel something thick, warm, wet, and metallic run down his face.
'Blood!' he realized. His face had been sliced open! The pain was lessening slightly, allowing him to look up at the man that had just beaten him.
Gaara still held the bloody kunai, then he dropped it at Nekoi's knees and put the stopper back in his gourd.
"You're pathetic." he said, walking right past him to go back to the main part of the village. Yami followed him, ignoring Nekoi.
"Yami, take me to the hospital. If I don't get this treated soon I could scar. I don't have enough chakra left to perform the speed jutsu, but you'll help me, right?" Nekoi watched her leave, then turned a hateful gaze to Gaara's back.
"I won't forget this! I do not forget and will not forgive! I will ruin you, do you hear me? I will get my revenge on you, just you wait! Do you hear me, Gaara?" Nekoi shouted, getting up from his kneeling position in the sand. "Do you hear me"
Gaara looked over his shoulder, indicating that he had heard, but then turned back around with nothing else said. His message was clear: 'You're not worth my time.'
"Damnit!" Nekoi shouted, falling to his knees again and slamming his hands down on the ground. "Damnit! Damnit! DAMNIT! I will get my revenge on him! Just you wait." Nekoi looked up, Gaara and Yami fading into the distence. "I'll find out something about him and I'll have my revenge! He'll be humiliated like I was, hurt like I was, and then I will have the satidfaction of killing him!" Nekoi's eyes burned with plans for his revenge, but he would never suspect the material he'd find out for his revenge when the time came.
TBC...
A/N: Boy, that was a long one! I never expected that out of Nekoi- an overconfident womanizer, famous for his speed? I figured he'd be a one time kinda guy, but I'll be bringing him back later in the fic. Seriously, I had no plans for him when I first started writing this. I figured he'd be just a kinda strong guy with an interest in Yami, maybe give Gaara a bit of a fight, but I didn't expect him to be so angry or make him seem like that. Extreme, ain't he?
Hmmm- does anyone else smell forshadowing here? The whole revenge bit will be a few more chapters yet- a lot has to happen before I can bring that bit in. I'm figuring the whole story will be pretty long, then I have plans for 4 more fics in a series after this. Not all as long! Parts 2 and 3 are pretty short, then part 4 will be a bit longer than this, but part 5 will be short again. I already have outlines for the stories, but I may end up not writing them depending on if you guys like this story or not.
Oh, and if any of you guys think that Gaara is too OOC, well, I'm basing Gaara off the more recent chapters of Naruto- like 260 and up. Not the early bits where he's all crazy and stuff, even though I love him for it. He's my fav character, so I had to give him some spotlight!
Hugs!