It wasn't just another day in Konoha. Just a few more hours and the chuunin exams would begin. Numerous genin came from every country with the knowledge of how harder this event would be compared from the past. It was rumored that the estimated mortality rate in the exam increased drastically with the addition of a single participant. This participant was known as Sabaku no Gaara.
He was standing on a sturdy tree branch, somewhere in the woods of Konoha.
"Where are those two lumps of meat?" He was referring to Temari and Kankuro, his siblings and teammates. Gaara preferred being alone but this chuunin exam required a team of three and he was not the type to complain. Finish this mission and get everything over with, he said to himself.
"They're probably in the town harassing pitiful weaklings…" he thought as he looked around. He saw someone training in the distance.
"…like this one."
He swiftly moved from branch to branch to get closer. He observed that the person training was a girl. She had short black hair that turned to shades of blue as sunlight shone on it. He saw that her hands were bleeding from her continuous rapid strikes on the dead tree trunk.
The girl felt someone near. She turned around…
…and saw no one.
She looks suspicious. I know she can't even see me here, but just one look into my eyes and she's dead. Gaara remained in his place.
"…!"
The girl then saw what she sensed. There were three ninjas wearing protectors with a sign of a music note on it.
They're from Oto, she thought. The Village of Sound.
"Will you be fighting in the chuunin exams?" asked the female.
The royal-raven-haired girl raised her hands in front of her, the edges of her palms almost touching. It was a position for both defense and offense. She refused to speak. (But in her head she thought of how this Sound girl might be jealous of her Neji-onisan's hair.)
"I guess she will, Kin," said the male Sound ninja with hair sticking up.
"Why don't we kill her now? One member less from a team means disqualification and one team less to beat in the exams," suggested the third who was bent over like a mummified hunchback.
"Why don't you hold her down, Dosu, and me and Zaku would do the attacking? Does it sound okay to you guys?" Kin asked, overconfident. Dosu was walking towards the Leaf girl.
I won't lose! The exam hasn't even started yet! I can't lose! The veins on her temples and near her eyes were now visible.
The Sound team was about to attack when a boy with maroon hair appeared in front of the girl.
"Hmph. Pieces of trash from Sound country. I expected this kind of thing from you," Gaara crossed his arms on his chest.
The mummified Dosu looked enraged. Zaku saw the protector attached to the boy's gourd strap, grinned and said, "Hey! This one if from Suna. Let's kill him, too."
Dosu grunted. "Good idea."
Out of the corner of his eye, Gaara saw the one called Kin glance at him and he paralyzed her. Kin collapsed on the ground.
"Dishonorable shinobi. Can't even wait for the event to start." Gaara never moved from his place in front of the Leaf girl.
"Why wait when you can do things now?" Zaku challenged. "So I can kill you bunch of losers officially," Gaara answered.
Dosu was now pissed off. "Who do you think you are, punk?"
The two boys from Oto did not hear Kin whispering "He's Gaara no Sabaku… Leave him alone…"
"Let me take care of this. I'll go after this punk first, he looks easy," with saying that, Dosu punched Gaara in the face… well, at least he thought so. His fist was now held by a cluster of sand that came out like a flash out of Gaara's gourd.
"What the…! If I can't hit you, then the girl would do!"
But his attack never landed on the Leaf girl. A wall of sand protected her.
The Sound shinobi could do nothing. They fled.
"Th… Thank you," the girl said, bowing down.
Gaara had a feeling that he should kill her. But I always feel like that. What felt weird was he felt like he wanted to hear her voice more. "You shouldn't be alone by yourself here in the woods," he said.
Just one look at my eyes and you're dead.
She did not speak. Her body was still held in a grateful bow.
I want to kill her but she doesn't give me a reason to. Those that met his eyes, all must die.
He put his right palm on her cheek to make her look at him but she was looking at the ground at her feet.
Gaara asked "What is your name?"
She glanced at his face for a second and looked down again. "Hyuuga… Hyuuga Hinata."
Finally, a glance, a reason. But when he saw her eyes, he was moved. Her eyes did not have fear. Neither fear of her enemies nor fear of him.
"I'll be looking out for you then, Hyuuga Hinata, in the exams."
That was the first time that his sand protected someone other than himself. The first time he ever touched somebody else, held something so warm. The first time he'll be waiting for something without an intention to kill.
At the mention of her name, she looked at him and saw him walking away.
He secretly smiled.
That was his first time, too.
First Time
Naruto
written 05-15-05
published 06-19-06
edited 07-22-11