Sorry this was late, but I forgot to tell you guys something last week. I was a debate state tournament for three days and got back yesterday night. Since me and my partner only made it because of pure default… we did not win a single match, but we had fun and met some nice people.

Enjoy!

Chapter 19

Farewell?

Hatsuharu ended up having to go in the bathroom with Asuka, seeing as he had the 'supplies' needed for her new situation. Luckily, neither Neji nor Lee had seen Hatsuharu go into the women's bathroom. Asuka came out with Hatsuharu by her side, he was stifling his chuckles. Asuka lightly punched him and gave him a glare.

"How was I suppose to know?!" She whispered shouted at him.

He shrugged and kept a big smile on his face.

I'm happy for you, can't you see that? The wolf told her through his mind as she placed a hand on his head.

She shook her head and still stared at him angrily.

Well, I am, I'll be sure to do something special for you. He smiled up at her. She eased up and ruffled his fur as they started to walk to Neji and Lee.

"Now, before you take your seats..."

Asuka heard somebody speak from a room not too far from her or her team. She quickly caught up and stood next to her teammates.

"What took you so long?" Neji whispered to her.

"Things came up and-" She whispered back.

"Quiet while I'm speaking!" The shinobi scolded her.

She straightened up and looked straight ahead.

"Now, before you take your seats, you will be drawing from this bowl to sit." The Shinobi bared two scars across his face and wore a long coat that nearly reached the floor.

"When you take your seats, I'll introduce myself and explain the rules before handing out the test." The bowl got to her team, they drew a piece of paper and took their seats.

Asuka drew her paper and sat down in the third row next to the edge seat. There were a total of 6 rows and they could fit up to ten people per table. Which meant there were thirty teams from all over. She looked around and saw that some of them were from the grass and waterfall village. Over her year of missions, she hadn't really ran into the grass or waterfall Shinobi.

She waited patiently and saw that Gaara was walking towards her.

Please don't sit next to me. Please don't sit next to me. PLEASE don't sit next to me... She pleaded in her mind as she kept a straight face and not looking at him.

Gaara took his seat next to her and barely glanced at her.

I'm going to die...

She took a silent breath and looked over to Gaara. "Hey." She waved to him and waited for a response.

He merely looked at her with his cold eyes, then looked straight ahead.

"So... Have any idea what the Chūnin exams consist of?"

He looked back over to her and spoke with his cold voice. "What do you mean?"

Well... at least he's talking.

"Um... like what we have to do... the challenges."

"I don't know, hopefully I get to spill some blood." a creepy smile formed on his face at just the sight of blood.

Great... I'm sitting next to a psychopath killer. Just don't... piss him off.

As she waited for the rest of the people to take their seats, she took out her sketchbook and some of her sketch pencils and turned to a blank page. She laid her head on the desk and barely stared at the page as she drew the base for a male head and body.

She caught Gaara staring at the paper she was drawing on and ignored his stares, as she has gathered stares like this before, she was used to it. Hatsuharu lay next to her, away from Gaara and next to a mist nin, who didn't seem to mind him there. She continued drawing as the Shinobi who seemed to be hosting the test began to speak.

"As I said, I will introduce myself. My name is Ibiki Morino, and I will be watching over you with the help of some Chūnin." He gestured to the Chūnin sitting in the stray chairs next to the wall. He looked out the door and his face slightly changed expression to anger, he faced us and back to the door. "Something urgent has popped up, I must leave for a few minutes, don't do anything hasty while I'm gone!" He ran out the room and left sixty Genin in the care of a few Chūnin.

She kept drawing and nearly finished the draft part of it, and was ready to darken and erase the stray marks. She shivered as the memory of the nightmares haunted her while she drew the guy in her mind. His white hair and pale, undead looking face. His dark eyes... the only thing she could remember well was the face, she could barley remember the clothes he wore, except that they were torn up really badly.

"Who is that?" Gaara finally spoke up after a few minutes of dead silence from him.

"Hm? Oh, I've seen this... thing in my dreams lately; it kills me every time I see him." She looked grimmer now, but she quickly wiped it away and made her face turn back to normal.

"He... kills you... and you're drawing him." He looked a bit puzzled.

"Well, I work in weird ways. To get something out of my mind, I must draw it. I don't know how it works, but it does for me." She did the final touches on the drawing and closed it. But something stopped the book from closing all the way. She lifted her head and saw three fingers in her book.

"Can I look?" Gaara's eyes didn't look as cold, more like... a child's curiosity.

"Hey, can I speak to you for a sec?"

A familiar hand was placed on her shoulder, she turned her head slightly and only needed to see the coat to see who it was.

"Oh, hey Kiba, sure." She shrugged and got up as Kiba held her arm and led her away from everyone else... as far as a yard or two goes in a decent sized room.

"What is it?" She queered as she covered her mouth and yawned.

"It's about Hatsuharu." Akamaru popped his head out of Kiba's jacket and whimpered.

She quickly wiped the tiredness away and turned serious. "What of him?" Narrowing her eyes at Kiba.

"You have to let Hatsuharu stay home and not compete in the Chūnin exams with you."

Her mouth was gaped, eyes wide in disbelief. "What?... why?"

"He's getting old, and I'd hate to say this, but," He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked into her with soft eyes. "He's eight years old, and the dog food we fed him when he was a pup made him grow like that. Normally wolves that live in captivity can live way longer than eight years, but the dog food we gave him also shortens his lifespan. He wouldn't live longer than ten years, he's lucky to have lived this long."

Tears filled the brims of her eyes, rage, fury, frustration, sadness... these were the feelings she was experiencing right now. She then started laughing.

"What's funny? This is serious!"

"Th-this is a jo-joke right?" Tears streamed down her cheeks and fell to the floor. "Just like before, you... you'd pull pranks on me." She struggled to even choke out the words. "Your lying." She tried pulling off a smile, but it wasn't able to form right.

"Asuka..." Kiba pulled her into a gentle hug, luckily nobody was looking, there was a big commotion going on in the other side of the room. "Don't cry, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"Why are you lying to me?" She started gently punching his arms and chest. "Your such a terrible liar." She choked and sniffled as the tears started to be absorbed into Kiba's jacket.

"Asuka, you can see it can't you? He's resting more, not moving as much as he used to..." He kept stating things that were obvious to others, but blind to her.

"Shut up." her body was quivering as she gently hugged him back.

"You know it's true, I'm sorry Asuka, I truly am sorry."

"Shut up, just shut up... I know, ok?" She buried her face into his jacket and clenched it. "I'm still going to keep him during the Chūnin exams."

He pulled her out of the hug and held her at arms reach. "What?! B-but, he might-"

"I know! I don't want him to die lying around; I want him to die fighting, like he was trained to do." She kept her head low and held her chest. "I love him with all my heart, but I don't want to see him just whither away and die eventually."

"You're being selfish!" He scolded her as he shook her shoulders.

Her head jerked up and looked at Kiba. "What?"

"Think about how Hatsuharu is, his condition is of an old dog right now! He's only following you around because he's loyal! You're smart, I know you are! Think about how he feels, right now! He's suffering physical pain beyond imagining!"

"What the hell am I suppose to do!?" She lowered her head again and let more tears fall. "Just... tell him to go home, during one of my most important tests of my life? It's not that simple..." Kiba wiped away her tears and got her to look back up at him.

"I know it's not that simple, my mother tells me of the other dogs she's bonded with and how they died." He swept her eye-length bangs out her eyes, "I'm sorry, but for the good of Hatsuharu, tell him to go home."

She looked away for a moment remembering all the times they had together. The time when she got suck in a tree and he had to help her out.

The first time she attempted to climb her first tree and fell right on her ass, and Hatsuharu caught her.

The times they shared training under Guy and Kakashi sensei.

Helping each other with getting in and out of an ice bath after training.

When he helped her whenever she was injured so badly she couldn't even walk.

The tears he licked off her face whenever she tried remembering her past and all that came up was a giant blank.

The jutsus they helped each other learn.

The experience they shared.

Everything they had experienced together...

In her opinion, all of that would be thrown away. Every single bit of it, for nothing. All for nothing.

But, he would be able to live longer if he didn't fight anymore.

It wouldn't be the same to her.

But... she had to, for his sake.

She nodded. "I'll tell him." struggling to even choke out the words she immediately regretted, Kiba hugged her once more.

"I'm sorry, I can't say this enough, but you'll look back one day and think, 'At least he lived a little bit longer', ok?"

She nodded and walked past him and to her seat. She laid her head on the table and looked down at the worried wolf. She sighed and placed a hand on him.

"You have to go back home, please don't argue," Tears were being held back this time, she refused to blink and keep talking. "Just go, I know you're in pain, I've seen it. I know your getting old, please, just go home." She continued to pet him and stare deeply into his stone blue eyes.

He did as she said and didn't argue. He just lowered his head as he stood up slowly and walked out of the room.

Now the tears flowed out and onto the table as she buried her face into her arms; then let the world fade into darkness as her eyelids closed her mind from the rest of the world.

ooOoO0OoOoo

A few more minutes have past as Gaara looked through the book and finally finished. He looked over to Asuka to hand it back, but saw that she had fallen asleep. He didn't know what to do to wake her up, even if he should or not. He didn't know what to do except look through her drawings again. There was one drawing that caught his eyes.

He flipped the pages and found the drawing again. The drawing that consisted of her and a guy with a bowl haircut and wearing a spandex suit with his headband around his waist. His arms were around her waist and his head rested on her shoulder. She was blushing and held his hands. Then there was writing in the top right hand corner reading, "Forget this life, This love is not meant to strive, Let it go."

She said she draws to get stuff out of her mind, so this must be a distraction to her. He looked over his shoulder to find the kid in her book. His head was down and he was twiddling with his thumbs, there was obviously something on his mind he couldn't get out either.

Gaara turned back around and stared at the picture, then back to Asuka.

How can I wake her up without touching her?... He looked down and gathered some of his sand into the palm of his hand. Looking back over to Asuka, he made his sand float over to her and land on her arm then gave her a slight pinch.

She merely shrugged it off and repositioned her arms.

Gaara scratched his head slightly and let his mind wonder into his more 'darker' thoughts to wake her up. He used his sand again and covered her nose and mouth.

After a few moments, her eyes opened and were blood shot red as she quickly raised her head up and wiped the sand away. She held her chest and desperately took in the free air.

"What happened?!" She asked Gaara with fear tinting her face.

"I woke you up." He simply stated.

"Like that?! You couldn't have just shoved me down or something?" She face-palmed and slouched in her chair.

"It was more fun my way." That creepy smile crept on his face again as his eyes widened and his hands shaking.

"Uh..." She scratched the back of her head, thinking on how to change the subject. "You like my drawings?"

He shook his mind out of his 'thoughts' and snapped back to reality. He looked over to her, then her sketchbook. "I don't care." He looked down at his hands and fiddled with them.

Then why did he ask to look? She sighed and laid her head back onto the table then started messing with her hair.

"Sorry for the wait," Ibiki came back in and shut the door behind him, "Now, I will explain the rules, I will NOT repeat them, so listen up!"

Well, with every test comes with a set of rules... then again, why do rules exist? People will break them anyway. I mean, look, the guy next to me will probably break the rules if he doesn't know any of the questions. She continued to play with her hair.

"And now, I will hand out the test." Ibiki declared while getting the tests. "Tests are out, NO TALKING."

OH NO! Asuka put her hands through her hair and her irises grew smaller. I'm going to fail... don't worry, just don't cheat and don't ask questions. Waist as much time as possible to seem like your smart. She exhaled a long held breath and straightened up as a test came her way.

Let's see... first question... name? Well ok then...

She wrote her name down and continued.

If your team was trapped in a corner with no where else to go, and there was a trapdoor blocking their only exit and your chakra level was low, what would you have to do?... what? Wait, hold on, who/what is blocking their way? They could have at least worded it differently... there is a horrible extension sentence...

She scratched her temple with the eraser side of her pencil and let her eyes wonder the room. Gaara wasn't really writing anything, but he was holding one of his eyes and seemed to be focusing.

Naruto wasn't doing anything either, he seemed to be stressing out right now, can't blame him either... Neji was using his Byakugan, and Lee... well Lee wasn't writing anything either. Akamaru seemed to be barking things to Kiba... I thought there was no talking!?

She slammed her head down on the desk and groaned.

I'm not gonna pass this... on to the next question.

She straightened up and looked at her paper again.

... I don't know this one either... or the next... six in fact. The last question is blank? What is this? I don't get it...

She put a hand to her mouth and yawned silently.

If I fail, surely the rest of my team won't fail either.

She laid her head on the table and began to doodle on the paper. Her vision began to blur and the room slowly got darker and darker with every passing second. Her eyelids soon failed her and closed.

ooOoO0OoOoo

Asuka was in the same room, with everyone she noticed still in the room with her, including Gaara sitting next to her. His eyes seemed less harsh when he looked at her, and more... soft looking. His smile was warm and very inviting, making her want to talk to him.

"You seem more... happy." She stated to him.

"Well, you are sitting right next to me." His voice was even more warm, and less cold sounding. He stared deeply into her chocolate brown eyes and leaned slightly forward to her.

"Uh... thank you." She blushed and moved her bangs in front of her right eye and then turned away.

"Come now, don't hide your face from me, I won't bite." He cupped her chin and made her face him again.

"O-ok..." She blushed even more and took a quick look at Lee and Neji.

Lee was asleep with his head buried in his arms, while Neji was giving her a harsh stare with his Byakugan.

She looked back over to the advancing Gaara, whom was now sitting next to her.

"What's wrong? Aren't you enjoying this?" He smirked and put an arm around her waist. "You have a nice ass." His hand slid down and squeezed her right cheek.

"Please let this be a dream..." She pleaded quietly as Gaara used his sand to gently pick her up and set her on his lap. Her legs hanged to the sides as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "Look... I am enjoying this, but I-" she gasped.

She couldn't finish her sentence because of pure shock. Gaara wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer; laying his head in her chest and began to suck and bite on her collar bone.

"Ga...Gaara... I... stop." Despite her efforts to get off of him, her body fell weak and couldn't even budge a single inch. Her face turned fully red as Gaara squeezed her tighter, he intently mad her feel him.

"N-Neji... help." She looked over to Neji, he was asleep too, she took in her surroundings and saw that everyone was asleep now. "Gaara... please... no."

"You say no, but your body says yes." He grinned evilly at her and picked her up; he laid her on the table and got on top of her in arms length. He put his legs in-between hers and spread his legs, making her spread her legs as well.

"Stop... please." She silently pleaded again, hoping he heard her this time.

He put a finger to her lips and leaned in closer. "Shut up and go with it. It is only a dream."

He removed his finger and gently put his lips to hers. He propped himself with one arm and had the other arm snaked under her waist and arched her back.

"You're so warm." He purred as he gently bit her upper lip.

Her whole body was so weak for no reason, she couldn't explain it. Her limbs were quivering, and she felt more cold than even remotely warm. Her hands were slippery and her forehead was covered by a sheet of sweat.

She was scared.

"Stop..." She whimpered into his lips. He took his opportunity and slipped his soft, warm tongue into her mouth and exchanged breathes.

He used his sand and raised her arms up above her head. She could feel him smile as his sand started to work her sandals and jacket off.

"Stop..." Burning tears slid from the corners of her eyes. "Lee... help me... please." She pleaded softly against Gaara. "Lee... help me... please... Lee... LEE!"

"LEE!" Her head shot up and looked around the room.

Lee was looking at her with a shocked/queered expression on his face, Neji seemed confused, and everyone else was giving her a questioning look. Her face was full of blush and her forehead was sweating.

"If you would be quiet, I would tell you the last question!" Ibiki scolded her as he crossed his arms.

She cleared her throat and lowered her head. "Sorry..."

She sighed and looked over to Gaara. He gave her a cold glare before continuing onto his test. She averted her eyes and looked down at her test.

How am I suppose to focus now if I just dreamed of having sex with the guy sitting RIGHT next to me... then again... it's not like we actually did it even in my dreams. She laid her head down on the table again. Wait... this is the table that me and Gaara... She shivered and straightened up.

"Congratulations, you all pass." Ibiki announced happily.

"What?..." She silently commented while scratching her head.

She looked down at her paper and picked it up. Nearly all the answers were filled in, she looked around and only got another cold glare from Gaara.

Did he... no, he wouldn't have. But then who? She took another look and didn't get any stares from anyone. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth I suppose...

She looked around again to see that nearly half of the students were gone. What happened? She tapped her chin, trying to process everything that has happened.

A giant puff of smoke appeared and a woman shouted, "I am Anko Mitarashi! Follow me!"

Asuka nearly jumped out of her chair and focused on the center of the smoke. There stood a woman in a fishnet shirt and a tan jacket with rusty yellow gray eyes and either black or an ugly dark purple spiky short hair in an unkempt ponytail.

"I was about to get to that part Anko..." Ibiki told her as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh..." She looked around and saw everyone in the room. "You made the test too easy this year, I'll cut them down at least in half." She smirked at all the students.

What?! But... there are only fourteen teams left, isn't that ok? Why do we need to lessen our numbers? Isn't more Chūnins good? Gah! Where's the logic? She threaded her hands through her hair and grunted.

"C'mon! We will be going to the Forest of Death." Anko sounded... unusually happy to lead us to our 'death'.

Asuka sighed and walked out of the room with her team.

"Asuka, why did you yell out my name?" Lee asked as soon as he was next to her.

"Oh um... I had another nightmare." She rubbed her arm and looked down.

"Oh, what was it about?" Lee placed a hand on her shoulder and looked more concerned.

Say something... not EXACTLY what Gaara did, just something!

"That, red head kid sitting next to me torturing me."

Yah... 'torture' he did make me cry though...

"The one with the gourd and 'love' mark on his head?" She nodded. "Do not worry, I will not let him hurt you." He gave her a sparkling smile and friendly one arm hug around the shoulders.

I'm still worried though... She looked at the back of Gaara as he walked in front of her. Kankuro was to his right and that blond girl with the four ponytails was to his left. He wouldn't do that... would he?

Alright then, is this the end of Hatsuharu behind with her? Would Gaara do that?... maybe. ANYWHO… I got a picture of Asuka in a traditional drawing I made of her, jut go to my profile and go to the link, I hope you guys like what she looks like.

Double upload week yah!

Next Chapter: *Preliminary Rounds Part 1*

Reminder: If I get thirty reviews for this story, I will upload the next chapter the next day.

Follow the arrow and review please! It helps me out a lot.

VVVV
VVVV
VVVV
VVVVVVVV
VVVVV
VVV
VV
V