Author's Note: Okay, repeat after me! I hate technology! I hate technology! I think I might have to write a song for this… Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, I've got something to tell my crazy fans. I'm part of a radio show that airs in Providence, Rhode Island and we have a blog! If you're wondering who I am on the show, I'm Liz and I do the interviews! And here's another piece of crazy info: one of my guy friends is doing a speech on poisonous food and guess what he found? A fruit called…. The aki-fruit! Seriously!! If you eat it before it's ripe, you die! I didn't even know about it until he told me; I must be psychic or something… Well, hope you found it all interesting! Happy Reading!

-Ryu

Walking On Air

Ryu took a stance to hold her ground, as did Hinata. They faced each other for a moment, taking each other in. Up in her seat, Tsunade folded her hands. She had actually been looking forward to this match since she remembered both Tetsu and Shana. She wanted to see what their daughter could do against one of the Village's main branches.

Both girls circled each other for a second, and then Ryu decided to take the initiative. She ran toward Hinata, who held up her hands in a defense position. She quickly vaulted over her, getting ready to kick her from behind. Hinata turned to catch her, but then Ryu disappeared. She then reappeared in front of her, and aimed for her turned head.

But Hinata caught her foot. Ryu hopped uncertainly on her free foot, and saw the lines of the Byakugan on Hinata's face.

"Ah, hell," she said. Hinata then threw her.

She concentrated her wind to cushion her fall, and did an uncertain hand-stand in catching herself. She then had to quickly shoot herself up into the air as Hinata came charging forward. She quickly went up a few feet, where Hinata couldn't reach her; she needed to think of a strategy. Ryu quickly thought of what she knew about the Byakugan from what she had gathered during her training sessions with Neji. She remembered that he could basically predict her movements and block her chakra points.

She folded her arms. How could she defeat her when she could see what she was going to do next? Her concentration was broken as Hinata had started throwing shuriken and kunai knives at her. Ryu had to dodge them in mid-air. She then caught the falling weaponry and started to throw it back at her.

She went side-ways, and upside-down, using her new technique. Hinata was able to effectively dodge most of it, as Ryu kept changing position with every throw. A few grazed her arms and legs, the girl flinching when they did. As Ryu threw the knives and shuriken, she slowly started to come back down to the ground. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she flew toward Hinata.

She quickly put up the wind barrier she had started to use with Neji, and started to try her luck by hitting her with wind strengthened punches and kicks. Hinata shifted and twisted around every try, and, even though she was missing, Ryu had to admit she looked cool. She tried one more time as she aimed a kick at the girl's head, but then disappeared using her wind. Ryu had just appeared behind her when Hinata spun around, and hit her full in the chest with a chakra blow. The hit was swift and sent Ryu tumbling head over heels to the arena wall.

Hinata went back to her original stance; that blow should have been enough to knock her out. Ryu then sat up amongst the dust, her almond shaped eyes huge.

"Whoo! That was a rush!!" she exclaimed, suddenly revitalized by the chakra blow.

Inside her head, Hinata faltered. She hadn't expected this. The anxiety that lived in her started to bite at her confidence. Had her father seen that? Of course had see it; he was watching in the blasted stands!!

She bit her lip as Ryu got up and brushed herself off. The what-ifs started to swirl in her mind. Now what? Ryu was wondering the same thing as she started her usual prowl around her opponent. They seemed to be at a stall mate or at least that's what is seemed to her.

She couldn't use her usual hits since Hinata could predict and 'see' her moves. She wanted to use her wind techniques, but didn't know if they would work. Hinata had been following her prowl, and then decided to go after her. Even though she was being attacked, Ryu couldn't help but notice the detail of the Gentle Fist. It was beautiful.

She wondered why Neji didn't fight like Hinata, who seemed a little more graceful then him. Ryu blocked with her forearms and cushioned the hits that Hinata was aiming at with her wind barrier. Hinata could feel that she was hitting something, but it didn't feel like Ryu. She jumped away from her small battle to take the situation in. On impulse, Ryu decided to chase her, not giving her the opportunity to take everything in.

Hinata had to ready herself, and Ryu, on another impulse, spun on a foot to start a whirlwind. She let it go and then air-slid to the side as the whirlwind went forward. The young Hyuga scrambled out of the way of the small tornado and then turned to deal with Ryu. The whirlwind spun itself out as they started to try and hit one another again. Ryu bit the inside of her cheek, thinking.

A strategy started to take form inside her mind though she wasn't about it. It might not work. And it would take a lot of concentration on her part. Ryu gulped; she might as well try. If she lost, she lost. There wasn't much she could about it.

Hinata then skipped backward, away from Ryu, who had chased yet again. She took a stance Ryu had never seen before. The Byakugan lines deepened.

"Sixty-Four Trigrams!"

Ryu stopped her chase. What?! She was suddenly being pummeled everywhere. She didn't even have time to shout. Ryu suddenly realized with a jerk that her concentration on her wind barrier was bei8ng blown to bits.

She pushed the pain aside and sent a rush of wind around herself. The quick gathering of the element pushed Hinata back a few inches. Ryu did a back-flip to get away from her, and then spun herself around. A whirlwind enveloped her, and started to grow. It grew to about the height of the stadium, and then approached Hinata.

The girl quickly started to run from it. Ryu jumped out from the top, and let the whirlwind go. She floated to the earth and started to create more whirlwinds, spinning on her toes every other step. The arena was quickly covered in whirlwinds, leaving Hinata hard-pressed to find running space.

Ryu gritted her teeth in concentration; it was taking a lot to control all this wind. If anything got loose, she might trash the stadium. She exhaled deeply and started to manipulate it all. She made it so the whirlwinds circled Hinata, closing her off. Hinata anxiously looked around herself; she was completely surrounded by roaring wind.

They started to close in and joined into one huge tornado with a kunoichi inside it, Ryu closed her eyes, listening to the element and lightly sharpening the winds. She didn't want to hurt Hinata, at least not mortally or enough to land her in a bed next to Kiba. After not even a minute, she let the whirlwind disperse and Hinata fell to the ground. Ryu had to stop herself from running over and catching her; she was supposed to be pretending that Hinata was an enemy ninja!

But that couldn't stop her from cushioning her fall a little. Hinata made a small attempt to get back up, but she collapsed onto the earth again. She was completely whipped out from being spun around about forty times. Her balance was completely shot. Sirym waited a few seconds and then pointed at Ryu.

"Ryu Akihara is the winner!"

Ryu sighed, and then jumped when the crowd roared. She didn't think she would get cheered for. She then put her attention back to Hinata. She air-slid over to her, and bent down next to the ground.

"Hinata, are you alright?' she asked her.

The genin nodded, seemingly out of breath. A small hand then met her vision. She looked up to see Ryu bent over, and offering her a hand up. Ryu smiled at her. Hinata took the hand and was helped onto her dizzy feet. A cheer from the crowd made both of them jump, and Ryu looked around herself.

The high walls of the stadium suddenly jumped out at her, the crowd looking bigger than before. The sudden realization that everyone had been able to see what she could do thunked her in the head. Panic grabbed her once again.

"AAAAAAAH!!!" she screamed, freaking out from the sudden feeling of being completely exposed.

She air slid as fast as she could back to the waiting area, leaving a huge cloud of dust and wind streaks in her wake. A question mark hung in the air as both the spectators and Sirym wondered where the Akihara had so swiftly gone. Tsunade laughed to herself in her seat, and looked up at Jiraiya who was standing behind her. He grinned wildly at her.

"So, do you think that Shana or Tetsu reincarnated down there?" he asked her. This only seemed to make her laugh harder.

Ryu was up in the area before she even knew it, or before the audience really did. She panted from the panic that had suddenly exploded in her body.

"Oh my God, Gaara!! There are so many people out there!!!" she said, her eyes even huger then they usually were.

But there came no response from the red-head as he stood looking into the arena, his eyes fixed on the ground. Ryu was brought back down to earth as she looked at him. His eyes were still green, but she felt like they had unseen red tinge to them. He was glaring intensely at something invisible to her. He didn't looked or feel like the normal Gaara she knew.

A silent rage had been stuffed inside him. Ryu bit her lip as she came closer to him, concerned about the sudden condition.

She touched his shoulder. "Gaara?"

This seemed to break the spell, and he looked at her. He blinked, looking like he had just woken up from something.

"Hm?" the sound came from him like he hadn't even known she had been there until a second ago.

Ryu large brown eyes gleamed with anxious concern, her face lined with worry. Gaara mentally shook himself; he couldn't act that way in front of Ryu. Even if Shukaku was roaring inside him for some kind of blood from the poison boy he was about to fight. He forced himself to smile for her, wanting to disperse the worry he had just caused.

"You won," he said, congratulating her.

It didn't work as she looked uncertainly at him.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her tone genuine.

A heart string twinged inside him. She saw right through him. He opened his mouth to explain everything to her, about his temper and his grudges, but Sirym's calling stopped him. He gave her a weak smile, and started to walk away.

"Gaara! Wait!"

He suddenly felt arms going around him from behind. He looked back to see Ryu giving him a hug. She smiled at him.

"Good luck out there!" she said encouragingly.

He spun around on complete impulse and hugged her tightly back. He pulled away, keeping his hands on her waist. He almost didn't want to let go of her.

"Good luck to you too," he said. She looked quizzically at him. "You go after me, remember?"

Her eyes became larger, a little fear entering into them. She bit her lip. She looked down.

"Well, you're going now so… Get down there and kick that guy's ass!"

She said the last line fiercely. He looked a little surprised at her, but then smiled.

"Will do, love!"

He realized half a second later what he had just said and quickly used his sand to disappear down to the arena. Ryu stood there for a moment, her mind a complete blank. What did he just say? she thought. She turned to the railing, nearly hanging herself over it to make herself heard.

"GAARA!!" she shouted down to him. He turned around. "WHAT DID YOU SAY? YOU TALKED TOO FAST!!!"

Gaara thanked the distance that she couldn't see the red on his cheeks.

"I SAID, 'WILL DO, DOVE!'" he shouted to her.

"OKAY!!"

Ryu was still a little confused though. Why had he called her a dove?

Gaara turned back to Sirym and Aki. His blood started to boil as soon as he looked back at the black and purple haired boy with the mismatched eyes. Shukaku growled inside him. It wanted to kill him, but, even though he also wanted to, he couldn't do that. He could maim him though. The cruel and wicked grin spread across his face as his basilisk eyes bored holes into the Grass ninja.

Sirym nervously tapped her foot. She was going to watch this match from afar. Very afar for that matter. She held her hand up, looking between the two death glares being shared. She swung her hand down.

"START!"

She then leapt away as far as she could.

Extra Author's Note: Man, I'm writing a lot of author's notes these days… But I just wanted to say the next chapter might be a while getting re-written onto my flash drive since it's really long. About ten pages worth on Word. So it might be about three to four weeks until I update again. So, see you then! …And I just remembered I forgot to put up the blog's website: youthvoiceradio.