Silver Wind

Ryu woke up to a loud knocking at her door. She was able to drag herself out of bed and stumbled over to the door. Through bright morning light, she discerned someone dressed in green with black hair.

"Uh... Lee?" she asked, unsure.

"Good morning, Ryu-kun!" Lee said enthusiastically, afirming her guess. "Guy-sensei asked me to wake you up."

She blinked blearily at him while thinking that it should be illegal for anyone to have as much energy as Lee did in the early morning.

"Fantastic." she mumbled, the word devoid of it's meaning as she said it. Lee gave her a broad smile.

"Good! Training starts at eight. See you there!" he said. Then he jumped off her porch and into the street below.

Ryu richly yawned, and felt something furry bumping against her calf. She looked down at Al. She sighed and went back inside to eat, and take a shower, with Al constantly underfoot. It was then that she found her new pet was not afraid of water, as he demonstrated by going between the shower curtain and cover the entire time the water was running. As she put her sandals on, Al waited at the door, and before she opened it, she looked down at him and said, "Do you want to come?"

The cat meowed and as she went out the door, followed at her heels. Ryu walked down the street, trying to remember where she went from here to get to the training area. She then stopped at a store on the way, and bought some ribbon and a bell. After that, she turned to find Al sitting expectantly behind her, his tail passively twitching in the air. She knelt down and tied the ribbon with the bell on it around his neck.

She didn't try to make a bow out of it or anything fancy, and Al stayed surprisingly still during all of this. When she was finished, he merely batted the bell a little with a paw. He didn't seem to mind it. They started off again, and she found her teammates already there when they finally made it there. TenTen noticed her furry companion.

"You make a new friend?" she asked as she bent down to pet him.

"Yeah. The guy popped my screen open last night to help himself to my leftovers. Then he decided to stick around." she explained. "He kind of adopted me instead of it being the other way around."

"Why did you bring him?" Nedgie asked, none too pleased. He seemed in his usually snobby mood toward her. "Training is no place for an animal unless they are useful in battle."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, so that's why Kiba walks around with Akumaru on his head all the time?" she said, her voice dipped in sarcasm.

"Yes."

No shit, Sherlock.

Nedgie narrowed his eyes at her, as if he knew what she was thinking. With those freaky eyes of his, Ryu didn't doubt he might be able to. She also didn't care. Lee stepped between their gazes to try and loosen the tension. He bent down to give Al a few pets.

"Ryu, maybe you should take-"

"Al."

"-Al home. He would just be in the way here."

Ryu picked her orange fuzzball up. "It's okay, Lee. He'll stay out of the way. He's not that stupid." she said as she scratched Al behind one of his ears. The cat gave both Lee and Nedgie the same look, as if daring them to question his mistress's statement.

Lee did have to admit, the cat did have an air about it. Almost as if it knew more then it let on. He then turned around as he heard footsteps coming down the path. The boy did a quick salute when he saw Guy.

"Good morning, Guy-sensei!" he said as enthusiastically as he had to Ryu that morning. Guy gave them all a smile.

"Good morning everyone!" He then noticed the large, orange cat in one of his students' arms.

"Uh... Ryu? Is there a reason you're holding such a big cat?" he asked. The girl nodded.

"Yeah. He wanted to come."

"She should take him home," Nedgie said bluntly and emotionlessly. Al hissed at him, and then looked at Guy.

"Well, he might have to go home, Ryu,"

"Aw! Why?" she asked as the cat jumped from her arms. Guy smiled.

"Because today we're going on a mission."

The entire team seemed more awake and attentative now. A mission was more serious then training. Ryu wondered what kind it could be; the only kind of missions she had ever been on was either information gathering, or to confront a potentially dangerous spirit. She'd never done anything really dangerous like the other shinobi teams except for that one time with the fire demon, and even then she had had back-up from a professional spirit hunter, Dr. Masuda. She hoped she'd be able to handle it, whatever it was.

"What kind of mission?" asked TenTen, speaking the team's mind.

"Recon," said Guy. Ryu felt relief; if there was anything she could do, it was definently reconnasense. He continued to ellaborate.

"It may just be recon, but it's important." he said. "We think we might of found an operative cave for some of Orochimaru's men outside of the village. So the hokage gave us the mission of keeping an eye on it for a while, and reporting what we see if anything interesting happens."

He grinned. "And you kow what they mean by interesting."

Ryu quietly giggled as Lee smiled crookedly. Interesting equaled fighting in mission language. Guy clapped his hands.

"So, are you guys ready?"

"Yeah!" Lee practically shouted. "Let's go now!"

Ryu looked down at Al. The cat then started to walk away, and down the beaten path. TenTen looked at her.

"Do you think it's okay to do that?" she asked.

"He knows the way home."

She looked at Nedgie's displeased figure. "So, when do we leave?" he asked, avoiding her entirely.

"As soon as possible," said Guy as he took some paper from his vest. He handed each teen one and they turned out to be maps. "The red 'x' is where the cave is. Let's go!"

Guy immediately jumped into the trees, his team following behind him. Lee couldn't help but notice that Ryu wasn't launching herself from tree branch to tree branch like they were, but was air sliding in mid-air. They went farther and farther from the village, and once they were four miles away, Guy gave the signal to stop. They gathered loosely around him. He pointed at Ryu and Lee, then tapped an area on his map near the red 'x'.

He then did the same thing for Nedgie and TenTen, but pointed to a different area. He then pointed at himself, and pointed at an area that was between both of theirs. He then gave the sign to split up, and they quickly did. Ryu and Lee moved fast as they neared the cave and found a good viewing spot where they could watch the it but not be seen. Immediately they saw someone standing watch at the cave's mouth.

Ryu peered at the person, and saw their clothes looked the typical Sound style; dark against light colors which stood vividly against the green and earth tone colors of the country. That was the problem with Sound camoflauge; it was made for winter weather, not the fair spring weather of the Land of Fire. Ryu sat back into the tree leaves next to Lee. She looked over at him.

"Now what?" she asked quietly. He looked at her.

"We wait,"

"For what?"

"To see if they make contact with anybody or if they make any kind of moves." he said. She folded her arms.

"So, we just sit here and watch?" she asked, sounding a bit disatisfied.

"Yes," he said. "Have you never done this before?"

"In a way," she answered. "Except I've never just watched. It was always some kind of contact with the subject or a confrontation."

Lee took a more comfortable position. He'd been wanting to get to know her a bit better then he did, so he might as well start asking questions now.

"So, you had a team back in the Sound country?" he asked. Ryu shook her head.

"No, it had to do with my job." she explained.

She then told him about her occupation with Dr. Masuda and the kind of feild work they had done. Lee began to understand why she was so unused to observing the enemy like they were now. Her earlier missions had always consisted of either closely observing and small interactions with 'the spirit medium' or confronting the medium and properly sealing the spirit if it was dangerous.

"Have you met Gaara?" Lee asked after this small interview. She nodded, looking happy.

"Yes, I talked with him yesterday." she said. She smiled. "I like him. He's a good person though I don't see why some people are terrified of him."

Lee looked down, as if he was thinking. She waited as she didn't want to disturb him. She then looked off to the cave again and saw there was someone new standing with the person in front of the cave. It looked like they were talking about something as the new person ellaborated with their hands. He pointed off aways from the cave.

"Lee," she said as she nudged him. He looked up and followed her gaze. He watched and when the new person went back inside the cave, looked over at Ryu.

"What do you think that was about?" Ryu asked him.

"I think... They're going to meet with someone."

She looked back at the cave. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?' she asked.

Lee stood up. "I'm going to report to Guy-sensei," he said. "You stay here and I'll come back with more instructions."

He dashed off, and Ryu wondered at his formality. He treated Guy as if they were in the military. Then again, being one of the shinobi was being in the military, right? It was just different. She shrugged as she continued her watch.

She was about to let her mind wander when she thought she heard something underneath her. She quickly made a few hands signs, and she watched her hands disappear as her Shining Wind jutsu soon hid her. It was one of the second Akihara jutsus she had learned after air sliding. By controling the wind around her, she could heat it, and have it reflect the light around her, almost like a mirage. She looked down, and saw three people moving toward the cave.

They weren't dressed in Sound style clothing, but she thought she saw a Sound headband on the guy with silver hair. She caught the glint of glasses on his face as she observed him before looking at the other two. They were grown men, and had large, thick ropes tied around their waists. Her hands suddenly ached as she thought of what they meant. The trio left towards the cave, and she watched as the guard stood as he saw them.

Lee suddenly appeared again near her, and he looked around.

"Ryu?" he questioned softly as he did so.

"I'm here," she answred as she let the jutsu melt off of her.

"Guy-sensei had to leave," he said to her as she slowly reappeared. Ryu looked a little puzzled and angry.

"What? Why?" she said. "He can't just leave us here on our own!"

"He has to report seeing Kabuto to the Onbu Black Ops. so they can try and track him." he explained. Ryu folded her arms.

"And we're supposed to do what?" Lee smiled.

"After Kabuto and the others leave, he wants us to get inside the cave."

Ryu blinked. "You mean an ambush?"

He nodded, and the girl grinned wickedly. Finally, we're actually going to do something! she thought. It hadn't even been that long, and she was already going crazy with only standing still. The promise of actually doing something later made the uncomfortable wait worth it. Ryu then thought of something.

"How are we going to amush them if they're going to see us coming in the cave?" she said. Lee looked like he was about to say something, but then closed his mouth. He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Oh!" The idea hit him quickly. "Your disappearing technique! Can you use it on me as well?"

"Uh... I think so," she said as she thought on it. She then jumped up, her energy coming in a surge.

"Okay!" she declared. "Let's go beat-up some bad guys!"

Lee grabbed her, and pulled her back into a sitting position.

"Ryu-kun! We're supposed to be hiding!!" he said anxiously while clamping a hand over her mouth.

She blinked as a muffled apology leaked through his fingers. He released her as they watched the exchange between Kabuto and the other men. They spoke for a few moments then he handed them a red scroll along with a small piece of paper. A few more words, and both groups parted, the guard heading into the cave as Kabuto and his men went back into the forest. Ryu tapped Lee on the shoulder, and when he looked at her, she showed him a few hand signs.

He bit his lip. "I'm not so great-"

"Doesn't matter. Just copy me." she whispered.

He then started to follow her lead in the signs. He noticed that the hand signs she was using didn't really deal with fingers; it delt with the entire hand and wrist. She finished by putting her forefingers into an 'x'. Ryu closed her eyes, and Lee felt warmth wrapping around him. He watched as Ryu disappeared, and then looked down at his hands. He saw that they were gone.

"It worked,"

The both of them were silent as Kabuto and his group moved beneath them. As soon as they left, Ryu lifted the jutsu off of herself for a few moments to talk the plan over with Lee.

"So, we get in the cave, and then attack totally from behind. How does that sound?" she asked.

"Fine with me!"

"Alright! Let's go!"

She put the jutsu back on, and they quickly made their way through the branch of forest. They jumped on the top of the cave, and slipped in, unnoticed. Meanwhile, Nedgie had seen all of this happen while TenTen checked her scrolls. He looked over at her.

"Lee and Ryu are inside the cave," he told her. She looked up.

"How? I had hoped Ryu was smarter then Lee," she said. He looked at her.

"Apparently our new teammate has a invisibility jutsu. The both of them just walked in," he said. TenTen looked to the cave.

"So, they're going to attack from behind them?"

"I suppose,"

She thought on this. "But, won't they get cornered?"

Nedgie unfolded his arms. "That's why we're going down there."

TenTen sighed. "Once again," she said as they started their descent to the forest floor. "We end up saving Lee. Why in the world did I think having Ryu with him would change that?"

"Because that's what always happens," Nedgie said dryly. They hit the floor at a run, ready to charge the cave from the outside.

Inside the cave, Ryu was able to fly over the operatives in the cave while Lee had to carefully pick his way through and not bump into anyone or anything. He looked around as he gradually made his way to the back; there were maps posted on the sides of the caves with areas marked or circled in red. He noticed a few buildings had red stars on them. Scrolls, papers, and books were discarded everywhere along with writing material, garbage, and leftover food. He saw the guard from outside looking over the new red scroll over with a few other men.

He counted ten men. Ten men in one operative cave? he thought. That's a lot just for an observance team. He saw a glimmer in the back of the cave; Ryu's signal that she was there. He quickly went to the back, and watched for the second signal.

One glimmer.

Two glimmer.

Three-

"Hey! We've got two shinobi attacking us from outside!!"

"What?!"

The operatives inside the cave suddenly charged forward. Ryu ripped the jutsu off of them, her expression completely confused. She looked at Lee, perplexed. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Must be Nedgie and TenTen," he said. Ryu ran forward a bit.

"Okay, change of plans! We wait until their all outside and then go after them from here," she said. The boy gave her the thumbs up.

"Right!"

They ran forward, Lee on his feet and Ryu air sliding at half her speed. Ryu thought she saw Nedgie and TenTen fighting outside as they came forward. From the looks of it, they were kicking ass out there all on their own.

"Banzai!!!" she shouted as she came out the cave, air sliding at full speed.

She flew past the few operatives just outside the cave, and saw Lee quickly take on two. She turned around, sliding backwards to find three operatives were hot on her tail. She spun, making a small whirlwind then threw some shuriken through and around it. One was taken by the shuriken, and the other was caught in the whirlwind. She quickly sharpened the winds in the whirlwind, and after a few moments, dispersed it.

The operative fell several feet from the air and hit the ground. The last operative threw a few blades at her, which she deflected with her wind. It was easy to dodge things when you could control the air around you. The operative suddenly stopped and put a flute to his lips. Uh-oh! Ryu quickly stopped, leaving a trail of dust behind her, and then quickly flew forward. She knew exactly what that flute could do, and if he blew the right note, this recon mission was over with.

Tweeeeeeeee!!

The note was sharp and penetrating and the pain it brought to her ears was enough to make Ryu trip on her own wind. She tumbled head over heels right past the operative and into the brush. The sound seemed to be having the same effecte on her teammates as they held their own ears in agony. The operatives that they were fighting took advantage of this and started to relentlessly attack, Nedgie being the only one with enough concentration left to put up a defense. Lee was overwhelmed, but too stubborn to succumb to the pain in his ears.

He was able to fend them off at first, but was slow to react to the later attacks from the two he was fighting. TenTen wasn't doing much better. Nedgie disposed of the three enemies he was fighting, and then made a bee-line for the one with the flute. He heard a roar of anger, and was cut-off by the rush of wind that went past him. Ryu was on the operative before he was even able to change his finger position.

She kicked the flute out his hands, gave another to the side of his head, then used her wind to throw him into a tree trunk. She then turned around to face Nedgie as he came to a stop. She saw Lee knock out his two opponents, and TenTen take down her other two as well.

"Woo-hoo!" she cried. "We rock! We got 'em all!!"

Lee smiled at her. "Nice job, Ryu-kun!" he said to her. She smiled back.

"You too!" She looked over at Nedgie.

"Thanks for backing us up," she said to him. He gave her a dry look.

"What else was I supposed to do?" he said. "At least you proved you're not as hopeless as I thought."

Ryu rolled her eyes. "Nice to know that I meet your approval," she said before running over to the mouth of the cave.

They regrouped at the mouth to decide what to do next.

"We should get what we can for information," said TenTen as she approached the opening. "It might help with the village's defenses."

"Hey!"

They turned and saw Guy walking across the small field. He jogged over to them.

"Leave the information for the Black Ops." he said when he reached them. "They'll know what to do with it more then you will."

He looked around at the fallen Sound ninjas. "Nice job, you guys. Let's head back to village so we can let the others get to work,"

They set off for the village, heading for the training sight. TenTen noticed Ryu seemed happier then she had been earlier. She smiled back at her.

"So I'm guessing violence makes you giggle?" she asked a bit jokingly. Ryu gave her a wild grin.

"You bet it does! Right along with sugar rushes and ridiculous actions!" she replied. This made both girls laugh.

Guy had hung back a little to talk with Lee and Nedgie. He waited until both girls were off a ways before speaking to the two.

"So," he said. "How did our small dragon do on her first mission?"

"If it was her first, she did well," said Nedgie. "I don't think her grandparents would be ashamed of her abilities. But they would of her blood."

"But it wasn't her first," Lee said. Nedgie looked at him.

"Really?"

"Yes. She told me about her past missions with her guardian in the Sound Village." he said. He looked at Guy. "Sensei, did you know that Ryu-kun can become invisible?"

He looked at him, a little puzzled. "You mean a transparency jutsu?"

Lee shook his head. "No, the hand signs were different," he said. He stopped and showed them the hand signs Ryu had taught him.

Guy and Nedgie watched, both of them curious about the signs differences to their own. Lee finished and that's when Guy began to laugh. Both students looked at him, wondering what was so funny. He stopped and looked at Lee.

"Thankyou Lee! Now I know how far she's gotten with the Akihara jutsus." Lee blinked.

"What do you mean?"

"That was the Shining Wind jutsu," he said. He smiled as he remembered. "Tetsu used to use it to trick the girls in class. Nearly drove the teacher insane when he kept disappearing right in front of him during lessons."

"So what you're telling us is that her father was a loose cannon?" Nedgie said, disapproving completely. "It was his complete destiny to go against his parents' wishes, what did they expect by disowning him?"

"Well..." Guy sighed. "I guess they were trying to get through to him, like they always were. Maybe if it had worked that one time, Ryu wouldn't be where she is right now..."

He said this while watching her walking down the road, laughing with TenTen. He did feel sorry for her; her parents were dead, and the rest of her family had pretended she had been until they themslves found their existance extinguished. He was amazed at her attitude though. Always smiling, bright and wondering at the world around her. Ryu, you have no idea how proud Testu would be if he saw you right now, he thought. Lee looked up at Guy.

"Guy-sensei? Are... you alright?"

He blinked. "Uh... Yeah." he said, mentally shaking himself. "TenTen! Ryu! You're too far ahead!"

The girls looked back. "We are?" asked TenTen. She looked at Ryu and shrugged.

They came back and Guy smiled at all of them. "I'm curious, is anyone hungry?"

The entire team raised their hands. "Okay! Follow me to the restaurant district! Let's go!"

He took off quickly, leaving the team to run after him. Good Lord, he's more childish then I am! Ryu thought. She saw Lee running next to her.

"Lee, why did Guy-sensei ask if we were hungry?" she asked him while running.

"He's probably buying us dinner." he said. He noticed Ryu's puzzled expression. "What is it?"

"Why in the world would he get dinner for us? There's no reason!"

"What, your teacher never rewarded you with food?" TenTen asked. The girl blinked.

"TenTen, I lived with my teacher; he had to feed me," she said. She then saw the cloud of dust Guy was leaving behind him as he ran.

"What the freaking hek!!" she cried, exasperated. "Guy-sensei!! The food isn't going to disappear before we get there!!!"

Guy laughed maniacally. "Ryu! It's time you learned if you want something, you must fight for it!" he shouted to her.

"You're crazy!! It's just food!!"

Lee smiled at her as he ran. "Come on, Ryu-kun! The power of youth lives on good food!" he said. Ryu looked at him like he had lost his mind.

The small caucus race finished in the restaurant district around the time the sun was setting. The lights were on, and Ryu was able to see the village at night. She looked around at the colored lights that were strung here and there along the street. It's kind of pretty here, she thought as she looked around. She thought back on the green forests and feilds she had seen on her way here, and the forest that was around the village.

It was completely different from the frost-swept land of the Sound village. Spring did visit the village, but only breifly. Then the snow would return and the landscape would be turned into an ink painting, the only color coming from the people and houses. She strayed from the group, easily distracted by the new night setting, as usual. She looked up and around at the star speckled sky.

The moon was a waning sliver in the sky, and she paused in her walk to look at it. She had always liked the moon. She looked around at the tiled rooftops and her eyes landed on a figure sitting on a peak. She looked a little closer and saw that it was Gaara sitting up there. She walked down the slightly darkened street that the building he was on top of was on and called to him.

"Hey! Gaara!"

He blinked, and looked around where he was. He hadn't bothered to look down. She shook her head, smiling.

"Down here!" He looked down and finally saw her. She waved to him, and he gave a small wave back.

"What are you doing up there?" she asked him. He looked around.

"Nothing, really..." he said, feeling silly that she had found him up on top of a roof. "What are you doing?"

She shrugged. "Guy-sensei is taking the team out for dinner." she said. "Don't ask me why."

TenTen, who had noticed first that Ryu was no longer with them, looked down the street that she was on. She saw Ryu on the ground, and then saw Gaara above her on a roof. She bit her lip, then called out to her.

"Ryu!" She looked back at her.

"We're at the restaurant! Come on!"

"Oh, alright!" she said. She waved to Gaara then ran over to TenTen and they started walking to the restaurant.

He watched them leave, and suddenly felt a sinking feeling. Had he lost one of the few friends he was able to make here, or was it just him? He hoped he hadn't. The lost memories that were connected to the girl were still out of his reach. He wanted to know why she seemed so very familiar, but completely alien at the same time.

Ryu and TenTen arrived at the restaurant to find that Guy, Lee, and Nedgie had already gotten a table. They had patiently waited for them, and after they sat down, Guy waved a waitress over. Ryu looked around, smelling both Chinese and Japanese food. Why exactly was she not surprised that they had picked to come here? Nedgie gave her a small cold look.

"Where did you go?" he asked. "You knew we were moving as a group."

"Oh, I... saw someone I knew and stopped to say hello." she said. She busied herself by looking at a menu.

TenTen looked at her. "You know Gaara?" she asked. This seemed to get Nedgie's attention, but they hadn't seen Guy shift his gaze away from the menu to Ryu.

She nodded her head. "Yes, I met him yesterday." she said as she puzzled over the food choices. "He was the only person who could give me directions to the library."

She looked at TenTen while pointing at a choice.

"What exactly is this stuff?" she asked. The girl smiled.

"Don't worry, a lot of it tastes good. What do you like? Sweet or spicy?"

"Sweet, I guess..."

TenTen pointed at one of the choices. She read it, and found it was orange chicken.

"You might like that then," she said. Ryu looked at the symbol next to it.

"But it says it's spicy," she said. TenTen shook her head.

"It really isn't, but it's a good mix of sweet and tangy."

Ryu looked back at the menu. "Oh..."

Dinner turned out to be a mixture of eating and challenges as Ryu found out. Guy and Lee both liked spicy food and would challenge one another to eat more and more spicy things. She watched this audacious behavior as TenTen showed her what to eat and what not to. Nedgie quietly chewed his food as he tried to ignore his teacher's antics. They split the leftovers and the team went their seprate ways.

Ryu decided to stick around the restaurant district to look around. She had come this way upon entering the Leaf village, but wanted to look around more. She followed her nose and her eyes to find different places that sold a variety of food. She looked into the places that she smelled good food coming from, judged them, then moved on to the next place she smelled. It was after she stopped in a ramen shop (with a rather blunt cook) that she realised she had no idea where she was.

She looked around at the lights and people, completely turned around. She bit her lip as she looked at street signs. She knew her house was between the restaurant district and the bazaar, but she had no clue where exactly. None of the signs she was looking at told her where Kutchki street was either. She wandered around a little more, heading toward the side streets.

It was when she had gone down one too many darkened roads, that she started to worry that she was actually lost now. She looked around at where she was, anxiety starting to bite at her nerves. The shadows around her weren't looking too friendly. Ryu rubbed her hands, trying not to let her imagination run away with her. Nothing bad was going to happen to her.

I hope, the little voice in her head said. She started to mince down the street again, looking more carefully then she had. With every step she took, nervousness and wariness came closer to her mind. She had stopped to look down another dark street when a light touch on her shoulder made her shriek, and launch herself into the air. She readied her hands in preparedness to send wind at the offending hand.

It was then she saw it was Gaara, down on the street, and looking very confused at her reaction.

"Did... I scare you?" he asked, as she came down.

"Um... Not really," she lied, smoothing her frizzed hair. It had a habit of standing on end when she was surprised or frightened.

His expression was one of understanding. "Why are you wandering around? It's past ten." he said. She looked at him a bit sheepishly.

"Well... I'm kinda lost..." He blinked.

"Where are you trying to get to?"

"Kutchki street. Except I can't remember where it is,"

He nodded. "Follow me," he said. "I know where it is."
She followed him as he walked down another side street. They walked silently as Ryu stayed close to him. She didn't want to get lost, and the darkness seemed a little less foreboding then before. Gaara noticed her nervous disposition.

"Ryu, are you alright?" he asked her, finding himself concerned.

"I'm okay," she said. "I just don't want to get lost again."

He stopped walking and looked down the street they had come to. He looked at her.

"Does this look familiar?" he asked. She came forward.

"Oh!" She pointed at a two story building with outside stairs.

"That's my house!"

She smiled at him in gratitude. "Thank you, Gaara!"

He nodded. "You're welcome, Ryu."

He walked her to her front door, and then looked across over her railing. He observed the view as she opened her door.

"You have a nice view of the village," he said as he turned to her.

"Oh, yes. It's very pretty at sunset."

He saw a large orange cat jump onto the window sill. It meowed loudly. Ryu looked at Al.

"Oh, Al! I'm sorry! I didn't leave you any food!" she said. She finally got the door open. She turned to Gaara.

"Do you want to come inside?" she asked. "I've got some leftovers from the restaurant if you want some. It's the least I can do for you helping me home."

The boy considered the suggestion for a second. It wouldn't be very polite if he refused, and he didn't have anything else to do tonight. After all, he really did have all night. He nodded his head, and she smiled. He followed her inside, and the cat immediately jumped in front of him.

He bit his lip, prepared for the worst. Animals didn't like him much. But the cat merely sniffed his feet then began to rub against his leg. Ryu giggled as she watched.

"I guess he likes you," she said as she put the food down on the table. She then got a plate, and some silverwere.

Gaara tentively petted Al on the head, and was surprised that the creature accepted his hand. The cat pressed itself against his palm, looking for a harder scratch. He satisfied him by scratching him behind the ear. A happy purr came from the cat as he did so. He looked up at Ryu, who had finished unwrapping the food. She gestured to it.

"You can eat whatever and whenever," she said as she walked away. He straightened up from his kneel, and walked over to his place.

He sat down, and took a small portion of the food that he could identify. He couldn't help but watch her as she walked around. She got a bowl for Al, and put it down on the floor. She then put some cold chicken in it, and the cat walked over to eat. She kicked her sandals off, and flopped down onto her bed. She rolled onto her stomach and cupped her chin in her hands.

"So," she said. "How was your day?"

He shrugged. "It was uneventful. Yours?"

"I went on my first actual mission."

"'Actual' mission?" he asked as he looked over at her. "What about those things you did with Dr. Masuda?"

"Aw, those don't count," she said. "All those were just interactions with the subject, and I only fought a spirit once. Even then, the Doc was there to back me up."

Those sounded like missions to Gaara. Maybe she had a different sense of importance or something.

"What did you do?" he asked. She smiled.

"Well, we were supposed to just observe this Sound operation cave, but then things got complicated after this Kabuto guy showed up. Do you know who he is?"

"Kabuto? He's one of Orochimaru's men. He's supposed to be very close to him." Gaara said. Ryu tried not to fidget as she thought on what might have happened if she hadn't turned invisble when she had earlier.

"Oh, that makes sense." she said. "Because Guy-sensei had to leave after we saw him. Something about telling the Black Ops. about seeing him. So he told us to check the cave out after he left. Which we did, but then we ended up fighting instead."

He looked back at her, and found nothing wrong with her except for a few scratches on her arms and legs.

"So, nothing happened to you?" he asked. She shook her head.

"No, not really. I just fell into a bush, that's all."

Al finished his food, and lied down in front of Ryu. She stretched her hands out and petted him. Gaara finished the rice he had been eating, and then took his plate over to the sink. He walked over and started to gently scratch the cat behind the ears. She observed him doing this and smiled at him.

"Gaara, you have gentle hands," she said. He looked at her.

"I... what?"

"You have gentle hands. It means you have a light touch."

He blinked, not sure what to say at this. "Oh... Thankyou."

He gave Al one final pat, then stood. He walked over to the door.

"Thankyou for the food," he said. Ryu smiled at him again.

"Anytime Gaara. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

He left, softly closing the door behind him. She watched him jump from her porch to another roof, and then start running. She turned over onto her back. So that's what he does to get along with the insomina, she thought. It mustn't be easy, not being able to sleep.

She stood and started to get ready for bed. She took a shower, letting the warm water bathe her cuts and scratches. It was nice to be able to relax after what happened today. It was kind of hard for her to believe that she was ending the day like this after having a fight with some Sound ninja. Was this what it was like here?

Get up, have some breakfast, defend your village, and then come home in time for dinner? It seemed very strange considering what she was used to doing back with Dr. Masuda. She would get up, have breakfast with him and Inu, and then go to the classes the Doc made her take while was there. She would go back home to make lunch for all of them, feed Inu, and then bring the Doc's lunch to him during his break. After her classes were finished, she helped the Doc with his paperwork.

Once in a while they would take off to investigate a dig or a spirit medium, and that was it. Everything here seemed a tiny bit more relaxed with daily violence for the shinobi being the norm. Life at the university had been so sheltered from the war that she had to sometimes remind herself that there was one going on. She looked out her window at the moon while she thought on all of this. She sighed and then climbed into bed.

She guessed she would just have to get used to this, but she wondered if she would start to miss her old life. Well, there was one good change to all of this; she was actually meeting kids her own age instead of crazy college students. She had only been here for two weeks and she had already made a few friends. She turned over and closed her eyes. She just hoped that the view of the war wouldn't change her for the worst.

Guy had been looking over some files he had had transfered from the Second Hokage University in the Sound Village when there was a knock on his door. He got up and answered it to find an Onbu Black Ops. operative standing on his doorstep.

"Yes?" he said, a little confused at this appearance.

"We thought you might want to see this," the person said behind the mask. He looked to the red scroll in his hand. "Can I come in?"

"Of course," he said, moving so the person could walk in.

The person did and set the scroll on the table. Guy approached the table, and the person gestured to it.

"Open it. We found it among the things taken from the operative cave today."

He looked at the mask warily. He quickly opened the scroll and was immediately shocked. The scroll had only one thing on it; a full photo of Ryu. It looked like it had been taken without her knowing it, and by a spy as it was a good picture of her face and upper body but the rest of her was obscurred by leaves. It looked like it had been taken from bushes around the road to the village.

A piece of paper was in the scroll as well, and he picked it up. It was plain, white lined paper with his new student's adress written in scratchy handwriting. He looked at the Black Ops. member, his eyes wide.

"Wh-What does this mean?" he asked.

"We don't really know, but Orochimaru must have some interest in her. We're going to keep an eye on her for a while to see what happens."

Guy groaned as he sat down in a seat.

"Why does crap like this always happen right before exams?" he moaned. He looked up at the person. "And I'm guessing that we're not going to cancel the exams again because of this?"

The person shook his head, and this procurred another groan. Guy gave the Black Ops. member a leveled look.

"Alright, fine. But if anything happens to her, I'm holding you people responsible, got it?"

The person made no moves to show that they either accepted or resented his claim. The person then walked over to his door and let himself out. Guy got up and closed the door. He looked at the scroll and paper one final time before rolling it all back up, and putting it in drawer. He took a key and locked it.