Weee another chapter! I'm on a roll! Maybe not...

I just hope you guys like the chapter :D


Chapter 11: Us Three

The next I wake up, and I find Gaara staring at me.

"You're awake. You're up early."

Gaara smiles at me.

"Were you staring at me the whole night?"

I rub my eyes and sit up on the bed.

"No. I was actually a little busy last night."

Gaara looks away. He seems to have a lot of things on his mind.

"Really? What did you do?"

I stretch a little, waiting for him to talk.

"You know about the monster inside me?"

"Yeah, you told me about him."

What is he getting at?

"Well, to be more specific, his name is Shukaku."

"How do you know that? Did he tell you?"

That's so cool! The monster has a name! Maybe we can all be friends!"

"Well yeah he did… Last night."

"Did you meet him? That's awesome! Can I meet him, too?"

Gaara looks at me, surprised.

"You're not… scared of him?"

Scared?

"Why should I be? I mean, yeah, a lot of people are scared of him, so they're scared of you, too, but I found out that you weren't scary. Couldn't be the same for Mr. Shukaku?"

"Mr. … Shukaku?"

Gaara looks at me weirdly, and giggles.

"What? Why are you laughing?"

"Actually, the Shukaku told me last night that he'll keep a low profile, because you were a really interesting and extremely strange person."

"I'm strange?"

I never thought I was. Or am I… Or maybe it's because I'm just awesome. Or maybe it's because I'm such a nice person! Hehe.

"I think it's time to start getting ready for school."

"Right! I hope it's going to be a fun day again today."

Gaara and I arrive at our class, and find Yukari waiting for us. I wave at her, and run up to sit next to her. Gaara follows me, and sits next to me.

"Good morning, Yukari!"

"Good morning, Kiu! And… Gaara."

She's still so shy around Gaara. I mean she's originally super shy, but I'm easy to deal with, especially since we're both girls, so it's kind of understandable that she's shy with Gaara, who doesn't really talk much. At least she's not afraid of him like all the other kids. She figured out that he's really a nice person. Gaara looks at her and nods. A little smile appears on his face. He's happy to have another friend. Isn't he just so cute? I want to pinch his cheeks! But I won't do it since we're at school and all…

"Oh yeah, how's your ankle doing, Yukari?"

"It's as good as new. The medics did a really good job, but they were also really impressed with the first aid bandaging you gave me. They couldn't believe it when I told them you were the one who did it."

"Hehe. I just tried my best."

I just wish these talents didn't have to come from dead people… It's like I need to find dead shinobi to become super strong or something. I don't like that…

Yukari nudges me, and points at the classroom entrance. I look at where she's pointing, and realize that Mari and her little crew just came in. I turn to Yukari and whisper as softly as possible so that Gaara doesn't hear.

"Ignore her, Yukari."

I'm actually really mad at her. I know she's got something against me, but dragging Yukari into this just isn't right. Mari shoots me a hateful glare on her way up to her seat. I respond with a triumphant smile. Haha, that pissed her off so much! I bet if Gaara wasn't right here, she would've come over and hit me. She goes and takes her seat right behind me. Well… I guess I better mentally prepare myself for a lot of objects getting thrown at me. Man, if I was Gaara, none of these things would even be able to touch me!

The teacher arrives, and just like Temari said, we're learning a bunch of academic stuff, starting with math: at what distance a kunai should be thrown and at what strength, depending on what target we're aiming at.

This is so complicated… Shouldn't it just be by instinct or something? Or even by training? It's not like I'll be calculating all this in my head when I plan to throw a kunai! And the stuff that are being thrown at the back of my head aren't exactly helping me concentrate. Mari's lucky that I'm not making a fuss about it, or Gaara would've already killed her by now. The problem is, the objects she's throwing at me start getting bigger and stronger. I think that last one was a metal ruler.

"Ah…!"

Something really painful just hit my head… Gaara turns his attention towards me. I hold the back of my head, rubbing it to ease the pain. It's unnaturally warm… and moist? I look at my hands and… blood! What did Mari throw at me? I look behind me, and among all the other stuff on the ground, I find a pair of scissors! She's insane!

"Kiu! You're bleeding!"

Yukari exclaims after noticing the blood. Gaara isn't saying anything, but he looks really mad. The teacher stopped his lesson, and turned his whole attention towards us.

"What is going on back there?"

"Sir! Kiu is bleeding!"

Yukari stands up to emphasize her panic.

"Bleeding? What happened?"

Well, I've had it! I'll just tell him about what Mari did.

"It was M…"

"Oh my, I'm so sorry, Kiu! The scissors slipped out of my hands!"

Before I could finish my sentence, Mari cuts me off and uses a very realistic tone of voice to lie about what happened. She's always been a good liar… The teacher, even though it looks like he doesn't really buy it, tries to minimize the problem.

"Well, I guess it was an accident. Kiu, you can go to the medics, and if you need anyone to accompany you just go ahead and take someone with you."

"…Yes, sensei…"

I get up, and head for the classroom's exit. Gaara immediately gets up and follows me. When we're both outside the classroom, he starts talking.

"Are you alright, Kiu?"

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch."

"Mari did it, didn't she…"

I nod. I didn't want him to figure it out, but now it's just downright obvious.

"She's also the one who hurt Yukari's ankle, right?"

I look at him, surprised that he knows about that.

"How do you know?"

"I'm not that gullible, Kiu. But I did figure out that you didn't want me to know, so I kept quiet."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you… I just didn't want you to worry."

"And you don't want me to get mad and kill her."

"…That too."

"Don't worry, I'll do my best to contain it."

We finally get to the medics, and they take care of my wound. We then go back to the class, where sensei was now teaching the history of Sunagakure. When we get to our spots, I notice Gaara giving Mari a death glare. For the whole remainder of the class, she didn't dare throw anything else at me. I guess Gaara finding out about what Mari's been doing is not such a bad thing. I reassure Yukari about my wound, because she looks really worried.

"Alright, class! It's time for some physical training. We'll be learning the basics of fighting techniques."

Fighting! It'll be so much fun!

"Man… That was… so hard…"

I think I overdid it… We were supposed to do fifty kick, and fifty punches, but I wanted to challenge myself so I did a hundred of each… Definitely not doing that again…

"I'm still impressed you were actually able to do a hundred kicks, and a hundred punches! When I was at only twenty punches, I already felt myself getting tired."

Yukari actually has a really unexpected side to her. Like she said, after twenty punches, she was starting to get tired. And how do I know that? Well, she didn't stop reminding me that she was feeling tired, and that she didn't know if she was going to be able to get through this exercise. She gets way more talkative when she's doing something she doesn't like.

"Sometimes I wonder if you like to challenge yourself, or if you're just crazy, Kiu."

Gaara says from behind me. He doesn't look tired at all.

"Oh… Hey! I'm not crazy! How come you don't look tired?"

"Because I just did what I was asked to do. If I tried to do more, I would've ended up in the same state as you."

"I'm really starting to regret pushing myself so much…"

Yukari and Gaara giggle at my pouty face. This makes me giggle along with them. I really hope all three of us will stay friends forever.


So I won't be able to update any time soon, because I'm going to have an eye surgery (I'm going to be blind! No I'm kidding XD)

Since it's an eye surgery, I'm required to rest my eyes for a while. I hope it won't take long, though.

Review! Please :3