Disclaimer: blah blah...
Authors' Notes: Another day, another "mission"...And Gaara!
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Early morning arrived at the Hasekura household. Jiyou was still asleep when a loud knock at the door woke her suddenly. Peering over at her alarm clock (which read 4:16 am), Jiyou grunted and attempted to go back to sleep.
Let someone else get it. I still have a good hour and a half of sleep left. Her thoughts were interrupted by another knock. Finally getting out of bed, Jiyou stumbled into the bathroom, making sure she looked somewhat collected. Stomping over to the door (muttering under her breath about how lucky Akemi was to have her as a sister) she yelled out, "I'M COMING!"
Jiyou slowly opened the door and was startled by their sensei. What does he want this early? She tried to force her mouth into a polite smile but gave up, figuring that it was too early to start lying to the sensei.
"We meet at the field we practiced in yesterday in one hour. Don't be late." With that said he walked off towards Maro's home.
ACK! I can't believe that was all he wanted! Jiyou stormed off to Akemi's room. Her jaw dropped when she opened the door. Akemi was awake reading. She was UP? The whole time?
"Who was that, Jiyou?" she barely glanced up from the book.
Hm. Do I sense payback? Sure, why not. Jiyou thought deviously, "Oh no one that important. Just Sasuke."
"Sasuke. Really, Jiyou. And this whole time I thought it was be Gaara coming to take you away. What a shame."
Jiyou growled at her sister's smirk. I should have known that wouldn't work. Jiyou caught herself falling into another one of her staring trances. "Sensei wants us, so get ready." Jiyou pouted and slammed the screen behind her.
I can't believe Jiyou thought I'd fall for that. I wonder what Sensei wants us to do now. Akemi dragged herself out of bed and away from the good book she had buried herself in.
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Akemi and Jiyou were once again walking to the training field (luckily there weren't any hair problems this morning). "Do you think sensei knows about yesterday?" Akemi asked Jiyou. Jiyou shrugged and yawned. It's still too early to be awake!
As the two went down a side street Akemi happened to look up and, to her surprise, saw Gaara sitting in a nearby tree! It was known fact that he was an insomniac, so it came as no surprise that he was awake this early. She grabbed Jiyou's arm to stop her from walking any farther and hissed, "Do not tell me that you want to walk past that tree after what happened yesterday with Kankuro! He could kill us, too!"
"Why would Gaara kill us Akemi? And plus, do you want to be late again?" Jiyou paused and pondered a moment. Wait. She may have a point, running from a fight is extremely embarrassing. Oh well.
"C'mon." Jiyou and Akemi continued to walk.
"Akemi, should I look up?" Jiyou had been waiting for the best time to try out another one of her flirting moves and had finally found the perfect opportunity.
"No! Jiyou, I don't even know why you like him! But if you have to flirt, look up after we pass by."
"Now?" Jiyou was becoming anxious.
"No! Not yet. Ok, now." Just as Jiyou lifter her neck to look up, she heard an all too familiar voice.
"Hey Jiyou! Hey Akemi! What's up? Hah, I see your hair's back to normal, well as normal as it'll probably ever be! I bet it took HOURS to fix it! Hahaha!" Jiyou whipped around and saw Maro walking towards them. "Shut up!" Akemi sneered, "Do you want to wake everyone up you chijin?"
Jiyou stared at where Gaara had been moments before her ignorant cousin arrived. Turning back to Maro she screamed, "I…am going…to KILL YOU!"
"Jiyou no! Not AGAIN!" Akemi shouted out as she chased the two.
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All three young nnjas arrived at the field early and out of breath. Sensei greeted them with a frown and crossed his arms, "Today I have a few…errands for you to run. Listen carefully because you'll have to remember them all." He began to name the most pointless tasks anyone could imagine. Darn! No weapons training today either! Akemi thought angrily.
The first job was to purchase Ramen noodles, although none of the team members could recall if their sensei had asked for a 1 pound or 2 pound bag. To be safe they bought a 1 ½ pound bag. After that Maro started to complain that he was hungry. "Well you should have eaten breakfast!" was the only response he got. Unfortunately, by the time they brought the bag back to their sensei, 1/4th of the bag had "mysteriously" vanished. How, the girls didn't really know.
Next they had to sharpen their sensei's kunai knives. Ten minutes into the task Akemi was tempted to stick one into Maro's leg, or arm, or any other body part she could reach. While Jiyou and Akemi simply sat down and got to work, Maro just had to whine and complain and eventually throw a knife "accidentally" into a tree several yards away. "I'll get it!" Maro offered but Akemi pushed him away and said, "No, I'll get it! Get to work!" She stalked off into the brush.
"Geeze! What's her problem?" Maro asked densely. Jiyou just glared at him and continued to smash the rock she was using onto the blade fiercely. Pretending the knife was their sensei's head helped her cope with her anger. I hope Akemi brings me something to eat. I wish I could run off. She's lucky.
Akemi returned a few minutes later and to Jiyou's displeasure, with no food. Why didn't she run back into town? That excuse could have lasted for a good half hour!
After all the blades had been sharpened their sensei came over. He inspected each carefully (hesitating when he looked over the knife Jiyou had "sharpened;" the blade was slightly bent in one area where she had applied extra force). "Alright. Now you are going to retrieve the shurikens thrown by earlier groups." Earlier groups? No other groups are out this early! I wonder if they're really his shurikens. That'd be just like him. Jiyou's lips curled in anger.
His voice interrupted her train of thought, "Yes. I want you to recollect ten shurikens. If you don't collect all of them you'll have to sharpen every kunai of every Genin group. These weapons are very important to me…I mean, the other groups. The task is meant for you to practice your climbing skills and whatever other ability is necessary for you to collect the shurikens. Now get going! I'll give you until sunset! Do not run from the task because I willtrack you down."
The three relatives moaned as they set off towards the forest. "This is going to take forever!" Jiyou whined and was a little reluctant to enter the forest.
"Let's just get this over with. I think we should split up." Jiyou began to freak out at Akemi's offer. "Split up? Split up!"
Wait, if I run into Kankuro again I'll kick his butt and maybe I'll impress Gaara! Alright! That's a great idea! "Okay. I agree with Akemi. Let's split up." Akemi and Maro stared at Jiyou's sudden change of mind. "What?" She noted the strange expressions.
"Nothing. C'mon." Akemi was first to enter and Maro and Jiyou started off in either direction.
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Akemi was certainly not happy. Two bad days in a row! What more could go wrong? She wanted to get the hunt over as soon as possible and started looking in the trees that were used for target practice. The only thing I can practice is my tree climbing! Akemi looked up and saw a shuriken in a top branch. Either someone has bad aim or that was planted there.
Gathering chakra in her feet Akemi ran straight up the tree. Getting up was no problem, retrieving the shuriken was, however. As Akemi tugged on it she lost her balance and had to grab a close branch. As she hung there she was dismayed to see Temari right below her. Great. This is embarrassing.
"Having trouble Akemi?" Temari called, making it sound like Akemi was inferior. "No, no. I'm not. I'm just fine." Akemi cursed the weapon under her breath. Come on! Get out! Darn, I'm starting to remind myself of Jiyou, she's always talking to herself.
"Sorry to distract you from your…training, but I'm looking for my brothers. Have you seen them?" Finally ripping the shuriken from the tree, Akemi jumped down landing smoothly in front of Temari.
"I saw Gaara this morning. He was in town." Akemi glared at her.
"Hmph. He's spending a lot of time alone lately. So, I haven't talked to you in a while. What is this task?"
Akemi couldn't tell her the embarrassing truth so she lied, "I'm just helping my cousin retrieve his shurikens from yesterday. He obviously has bad aim."
"Apparently so. Well, I'll see you around." Temari turned coldly and walked off.
Ugh. I really don't like her. Oh look, another shuriken. Akemi headed to another tall tree.
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I hate sensei. I hate sensei. I hate, I hate, I HATE sensei! Jiyou hummed to herself, "This is sooo BORING!" She shouted and her voice echoed through the trees. Oops! "Whatever. It's not like anyone is around to hear me," Jiyou muttered and decided to sit down for a minute. Looking around she saw not one shuriken. Sigh. Jiyou laid back and gazed at the tops of the trees.
Just then a shuriken whizzed by narrowly missing her nose. Alarmed she bolted upright. No one was in sight. It's ok Jiyou. Calm down. Getting up Jiyou found the shuriken stuck in a pine. Pulling it out she looked around. Nothing, so she continued to walk.
She got about two feet when another shuriken passed overhead. As she retrieved that one she became uneasy. Ok, this is not good. Jiyou was almost scared to find out who it was, but she had to know who could be threatening her.
Following the direction from which the shuriken was thrown, Jiyou once again saw Gaara sitting in a tree. Why is he teasing me like this? He's just watching! What should I do? Are these his? Jiyou looked down at the weapons she held. Her heartbeat quickened. Hoping she wouldn't say something stupid, Jiyou tried to talk, " Um. You're not trying to kill me or anything, right?"
Gaara shook his head and Jiyou let out a sigh of relief. She would never hear the end of it from Akemi if Gaara hurt her. "Are these yours or are you making my lame task easier?" I must be crazy for talking to him like this. That's it Jiyou, you're wacked! She scolded herself as Gaara's sleepless eyes bored down on her.
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