Author's Note: Yeeeeeeeeee!!!! I'm still so excited about my fixed floppy drive... It's so quiet and working and working... It works so nicely and it accepts my floppies without having to use a hammer and a screw-driver... Okay, I'm kidding about the hammer and screw-driver thing, but anyway... Did I mention that it works:D

-Ryu

Pick Your Poison

Just as Gaara had promised, he had left the arena to find Ryu when Kiba's match had started. He didn't exactly care whether Kiba won or not; he just wanted the chance to ring Aki's neck at some point. He was going to get his revenge for what he had done to his sister. Temari still hadn't recovered enough to train yet. That poison was strong.

So as he ran down the street to Ryu's apartment, he hoped that Kiba would be careful. If Aki had made any adjustments to his poisons, which he probably had, Kiba could easily be killed. He used close combat as well, which didn't bode well for poison weilders. He wondered whether or not he should hurry to bring Ryu to the arena when that meant for her to watch one of her best friends fight someone so deadly. He could almost hear Ryu's scream when Kiba would hit the ground, dead from poison.

He shook his head. That was something he neither wanted to hear nor see, especially Ryu's screaming part. He walked up the stairs and went up to her front door. He knocked, and waited. There was no response.

He then knocked a couple more times. Nothing again. He decided to try once more, and looked up when he heard a growl and a meow. Al was standing in the window and Raikera had stretched out enough so she could look out with her paws on the window sill. Gaara looked in to see if Ryu was there, because if the both of them were here, that meant she hadn't left.

Books and paper were flung all over of the apartment along with something black that seem to have been splashed all around. He saw Ryu's head resting against the side of her bed, but didn't see the rest of her. Gaara's heart quickened in panic as he popped the screen open and jumped inside. Paper crunched underneath his sandals, and he quickly went over to Ryu. Her back was against her bed, her hair was a mess and there was a book in her lap.

She was breathing, which meant she was alive, and the black that was splattered about seemed to be ink. Gaara sighed in relief. He knelt down and lightly shook her.

"Ryu,"

Her eyelids didn't even twitch. He shook her a little harder.

"Ryu, wake up," he said, raising his voice a little.

Nothing from her again, and he shook a little harder. Raikera came over and started to chew on her mistress' fingers, but even that didn't wake her up. What, was she in a coma? Gaara was starting to get frustrated. He shook her and called her name for about five minutes before his temper started to boil. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her vigorously.

"RYU!!" he shouted. "WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!! HOW CAN YOU SLEEP WHEN KIBA'S FIGHTING AKI?!?!"

Ryu finally opened her eyes. "What?"

Gaara blinked. Wow, that actually worked, he thought, surprised. She rubbed one eye and looked around. "What? Gaara? What're you-?"

Her eyes widened in panic and realisation. "OHMIGOD!!!" she screamed as she jumped to her feet.

She rushed around the house, air sliding around in her pajamas. She grabbed her messenger bag and a few scrolls then shoved Gaara outside so she could get dressed. She came outside in under a minute in something he had never seen her wear before. Black sandals with her usual knee-highs, white shorts with a black belt, and her top half was covered by a tan colored long coat. She grabbed his hand and they started to run down the street to the arena. They were able to get back into the arena and Gaara led her to the waiting area. She saw Hinata looking nervously down at the battlefeild.

"Hinata!!" she called. She stopped at the railing. "How's he doing? What'd I miss?"

"Um... He's doing okay, I think," she said.

She looked down to see a panting Kiba with a steady Akumaru by his side. Aki was standing a little ways off across from him. It didn't look like he had used any poison yet. Kiba and Akumaru took off after him. Kiba went to the left and Akumaru went to the right.

Aki quickly vaulted away, his gymnastics skills still strong. But Kiba had been expecting this and threw some shuriken at him. Aki dodged this, but barely managed to escape Akumaru's teeth as he did so. He rolled away and had to jump out of Kiba's reach. The two met up once again, and Kiba fished in his pocket for the food pills.

He gave one to Akumaru so the dog could easily reach Aki next time. The puppy growled, his fur turning red and bristling. He snarled threateningly at the Grass ninja. Aki took a taijustu position as the two went after him once more. The boy seemed to take a moment to center himself, and met the two half-way.

He was able to hit Kiba, making him fall away from him, but Akumaru bit him full on the calf. Aki gritted his teeth as the puppy growled venomously while he dug his teeth into him. He tried to shake the dog off, swinging his leg around in a kind of manic yoga position. Kiba laughed; he couldn't help himself, after all this was the plan. He took a couple of smoke bombs and set them off.

He then charged into the smoke. Akumaru then let go of Aki as soon as he had bitten on. Aki limped around, confused in the smoke. From the waiting area above, Ryu, Hinata, Saphira, and Gaara could see the signature grey whirls that sliced the smoke screen go in and out. It seemed Aki had waited too long to use his poison.

The whirls broke the screen a few more times, and then two Kibas jumped out of the smoke. They waited for some kind of response from inside the smoke. Ryu's knuckles were white as she held onto the railing in anxiousness. It seemed like nothing was going to happen when shuriken suddenly exploded from the clearing smoke. Akumaru changed back into himself and doged as many as he could in his small form along with Kiba.

Aki came charging out of the smoke, and started to attack him. He had taken out a katana from somewhere even though they hadn't seen a blade on him when the match had begun. Ryu guessed he had summoned it like TenTen could summon her own weapons. He went straight for Kiba, ignoring Akumaru completely. Kiba was able to easily dodge the sharp blade as Aki still seemed injured from the attacks before.

Akumaru growled and barked then went for the concentrating Grass ninja. The boy suddenly vaulted away from Kiba and took a scroll out in mid-air. He opened it, summoning senbon and sent a rain of metal at Kiba, who dodged. But Akumaru had been aiming for the place where both Kiba and Aki had been. The puppy was caught in the attack and howled as senbon hit his side.

"Akumaru!" Kiba shouted, and went for his companion's rescue.

He jumped into the rain and grabbed his friend, his back being open for attack. Aki, now on the ground, took this opportunity and sent another shower of senbon his way. Kiba held Akumaru to his chest, and dodged, his ankles and shins the only area where he was hit. He gritted his teeth as he moved out of range, and took the senbon out of Akumaru. The puppy whined in extreme pain.

He was about to ask, since the cuts weren't deep, when he himself was seized with pain. The sudden sensation made him gasp for breath. It felt like his skin was on fire. He took the senbon out of himself quickly and noticed the tips were colored purple. He painted poison on the senbon, Kiba thought. He had only been looking for the poison smoke; he hadn't thought of poison needles. Aki was walking over to him.

"Have you felt it yet?" he asked. "When I found out I'd be facing you, I wasn't exactly sure what to do. But now I see that the nerve poison I made works nicely on you."

Kiba glared daggers at him. "Poison is for cowards!" he snarled at him, turning the pain into rage. "Why don't you face me like a man?!"

Aki took out more senbon. "Traditionally, poison is the coward's way out," he said calmly. He aimed for the pain-stricken boy. "But then again, two against one isn't very fair here either."

He threw them at him, and Kiba grabbed Akumaru and dodged out of the way. The senbon hit the ground, but Kiba found that the pain increased as he moved. He suddenly saw Aki in front him and was hit with a spray of senbon in his chest. The impact sent him skidding away from the Grass ninja. Gaara watched the match spiral downward with folded arms, but then noticed the nervous Ryu.

Her eyes were large with panic. He moved a little closer and put his arm around her for comfort. He could see that this wouldn't end well, and he could at least try to be there for her when it happened. Kiba cried out from the new dose of poison. His entire body felt like it was being attacked by unseen needles.

His vision was going in and out of the light. He saw a blurry Aki standing in front of him. He aimed another senbon at him. Kiba quickly put Akumaru behind him for safety. He thought he'd try one more time to attack him.

He gritted his teeth and jumped at him. But the poison moved with swift intention. His movements were suddenly cut off short as he fell to the ground. Ryu let go of Gaara and nearly fell over the railing. Hinata thought she might faint. Sirym waited a beat, but then thought back to the last match she had seen with this boy. She quickly went over to the fallen Inuzuka, and saw that he was out cold but still twitching. She shivered; the poison this kid was using wasn't friendly. She pointed at Aki.

"Aki Yostuba is the winner!"

The medic nin came out quickly and picked up Kiba and Akumaru. Ryu was shaking with anxiety. She wanted to jump down there and make sure Kiba was alright by herself. She saw Aki stop one of the medic nin, and hand them a bottle, just as he had done with Temari. Gaara bristled; he wanted that boy's skin! Ryu couldn't take it anymore; she jumped from the waiting area and ran to Kiba's stretcher. Akumaru whined in her direction and she spun back around in mid-run and went over to him. She looked to the medic nin pleadingly.

"I'm a friend of his, can I please carry Akumaru?" she asked.

"Yes, but be careful with him."

Ryu gently took Akumaru and held the puppy close to her. Amongst the pain, Akumaru felt guilty. It was his fault that Kiba got poisoned since he had jumped in to save him. Ryu followed the medic nin into their room, and watched them set up an i.v. for Kiba. They got a needle and injected the antidote into the stream.

Ryu held Akumaru to her chest as she sat down. Even though he was unconscious, Kiba still seemed to be growling in pain. Sweat gleamed on his forehead as violent fever seemed to come over him, and Ryu went over to hold his hand. Worry was running rampant in her brain. They had just been able to start getting along again; how come this had to happen?

She hoped Kiba would be alright after the poison wore off and that there weren't any sideaffects. She looked out the window to see into the arena. Gaara's match was starting. She bit her lip; she should go out and cheer him on. She looked to Kiba. But shouldn't she stay here as well? Her internal struggle couldn't wait as she saw Sirym start the match. She then heard a scuffle outside of the room.

"I don't care about stupid protocol!! That's my son in there, and I want to see him! NOW!" a woman's voice was heard shouting along with the bark of a wolf.

The door suddenly burst open, and a fierce looking woman with the marks of the Inuzuka clan stomped into the room. A grey and black wolf with an eye-patch stood behind her. She gasped when she saw Kiba lying there.

"Oh... Kiba!" She quickly went to kneel by the bedside. Then she realised Ryu was sitting there as well. She blinked.

"Oh, hi, Ryu. When did you get here?" she asked.

Ryu was a little confused; how did this woman know who she was? Then it dawned on her that this was Kiba's mother.

"I got here a little while ago." she answered, not letting go of Kiba's hot hand.

His mom got up and sat on the bed, taking hold of his other hand. She didn't say anything about Ryu's holding the other and keeping Akumaru on her lap. Ryu quickly looked to the window as she heard a cheer from the crowd. She strained to look, but not wanting to let go of Kiba's hand and disturb Akumaru, she could only see wet sand churning on the battle field. Kiba's mom looked up as well.

"Kiba told me that you're friends with Gaara as well," she said. Ryu nodded, and, as she was taller then her, Kiba's mom looked out the window.

"He's winning," she said. She then looked to her son as another wave of pain seemed to sweep through him.

Ryu jumped a little as her hand was squeezed so hard it almost hurt. Akumaru whined in his companion's direction as the boy was seized with yet another wave of pain on top of the last. The girl gently petted him as Kiba moaned. She saw that Kiba's mom was biting her lip. Another cheer was heard from outside. Ryu heard Sirym shouting outside.

"Gaara of the Sand is the winner!"

Ryu perked up. Gaara had won; that was good. She saw that the tournament rounds had been posted in the room. Wait a second, her match was next!! Wasn't she fighting Hinata?! She looked to Kiba and then his mom. She smiled at her.

"Don't worry, I'll stay here with him." she said.

Ryu gently let go Kiba's hand and handed Akumaru over to his mom. The puppy whined and licked her hands as she did. Kiba's mom smiled at her again.

"He just told you, 'Good luck.'" she said. Ryu gently rubbed the puppy's head.

"Thankyou Akumaru," she said. She heard the clacking of sandals and Gaara came in. He jerked a thumb to the entrance.

"You're up," he said. He noticed the concern lining her face.

A small pang of despair hit him in the chest as something whispered in him, How can I compete with that? He wondered where it had come from as Ryu slowly left the room. Gaara watched her go, and then saw the medic nin bring in the knocked out Saphira. He felt no guilt this time. After all, the girl had tried to drown him.

Ryu walked out into the bright light to hear the crowd cheering. A small amount of panic seized her as she looked around. She was going to fight in front of all these people?! She looked to see Hinata, one of the shyest genin around, standing tall and waiting for her to come. Ryu took a breath.

Well, if she could do it, so could she. She walked so she was standing across from her. Sirym was standing between them. She waited a beat and then put her hand up.

"Begin!"