Hey guys… came home early today for they had suspended our classes for it was raining really hard… yay hehe :P Anyway… here is chapter 12 to the story :P (I actually researched the obsidian on this. Thank you wikipedia!)

SHOUTOUTS: Ink'd Fairy Wings-thanks so much for putting me in your fave story list and your story alert!, Natalie101-thanks for the review! I liked your fanfic! :), jinxedpixie-thanks for the review, Lela Rye-thanks for the review, and to XiaBubbleQueen-hello! thanks for reviewing!! :)

Reiyka stayed with Van at the hospital until the sun had risen, where he felt fine enough already to move about. Together they left to begin training.

Reiyka wondered why Van seemed to know Suna as he expertly led her to a large wide building that had a gray color. A big sign on top of the doors read: 'Suna Military Academy.' "Van, why are we here?"

Van grinned and whistled loudly. The big doors opened. "You're gonna train right? Got to make sure you train properly." He went inside.

"I don't get it. How…"

"Baki, good to see you." Van said, looking forward. True enough, they saw Baki approach them from the buildings inside. Reiyka was surprised. She did wonder before how the two knew each other. "Thanks for letting us in on such short notice."

"Not a problem, really. Gaara also explained the situation." he replied, bowing to Reiyka. He led them inside a big empty room that was full of equipment and practice armaments.

"You see, me and my dad had gone here before to train also. Baki knew my dad from tied-in missions, they knew each other since they were young." Van explained, seeing the restless expression on Reiyka's face. Baki laughed and told them about some of their past missions.

"Well, I'll leave you guys here. I've ordered no one to disturb you or to come to this room. See you." When Baki had closed the door, Reiyka felt a sense of calmness come over her.

I've got to focus, she thought. I have to train real hard if I want to prove myself. Reiyka thought about what Gaara might be doing right now. She clutched her hands and breathed deeply. "Ok Van. Let's get this going!"

First, Van taught her to meditate and concentrate on clearing the flow of chakra in her body. This alone took about 3 days to complete. Then, he taught her how to accurately aim her kunais using her chakra as soon as she either let go of them or as she used a string (like how Chiyo or Kankurou does with the puppets, but instead Reiyka and Van uses copper thread to also conduct heat).

Reiyka perfected the art of sending chakra through various parts of her body, most especially with her feet, like the one she had done to Van when he had attacked Gaara. She also learned how to get a large amount of sand quickly and instantly turning it to glass with the Sand Shovel Technique.

This went on until pretty soon, they had only 5 days left before Asagani arrives. Van had one last message for Reiyka. They sat outside the Suna gates, watching the fierce night wind blow the sparkling sand against the walls that bordered the village.

"You know how the other villages have scrolls of all sizes to hide big shurikens and other weaponry and even summon creatures?" he said.

Looking at the sand, Reiyka hadn't heard what Van had told her. She was thinking about Gaara, who she had not seen since she had left to train. It seemed that he was busy too, for he hadn't gone looking for her or anything. Do I actually miss him? she thought, bemused but smiling. Van waved his hand in front of her face. "Reiyka?" She blinked, and looked at him.

"Oh, sorry… were you saying something?"

"Hmph. I was saying how other villages had weapons sealed in scrolls. Well, we actually do have scrolls of our own, but we hadn't used them in a while. So I thought of –" Reiyka smiled, impressed at Van's innovative thinking. "-using them for you. This one," he said, taking out a medium sized paper scroll. "Has an array of glass weaponry, kunais and shurikens. But these ones," he said, taking out 3 big scrolls, 2 of which were made of tinted glass from his bag, "Are of my own design."

"Wow…" said Reiyka in awe, holding one.

"The first one," said Van proudly, taking the one that she held. A popping sound was heard as he unraveled the only one made of paper, "has the collection of all my inventions."

He lay it on the ground. 2 large glass spears, one filled with liquid glass and another with a dark liquid (which could be poison), 2 large glass shurikens, a tinted glass shield, a short glass sword and various types of glass kunais. Reiyka noticed them to be made with a different type of glass.

"Why is it so dark?" she asked, pointing to them. Van took a kunai and held it up.

"The glass was formed as an extrusive igneous rock, called Obsidian. Normal sand only has silica quartz, that when melted, fuses into glass. Obsidian, however, is really more sharp and fine. It is in fact more capable of inflicting terrible injuries than that of the transparent ones." He took a normal glass kunai from Reiyka and held it up beside his kunai. Looking closely, the dark kunai had a ragged or serrated look to it. Van cut the obsidian kunai into the transparent kunai and it already had nicks to it.

"Cool." said Reiyka. "So what are those for?" She said, motioning to the other scrolls.

"Ahh." he said. The remaining scrolls were made of glass as well! Reiyka laughed. "These are just filled with sand."

"Huh?" she remarked, disappointed, wanting to see more weapons.

"If you're suddenly in a place with no sand, you can just easily use them so you won't be helpless." Although it seemed like there was nothing special to them, they did seem kind of important in the common sense. And also, no one had thought of them before. In fact, Reiyka's mind had suddenly thought of Gaara and his gourd; they both had the same purpose of carrying sand at all times.

"Thank you, Van." Reiyka said, packing them into her bag. She sighed wearily. "Now what?"

"Actually, you could rest for now." he suggested, standing up straight. "I have to go somewhere for a while, I'll see you real soon." He waved and went inside Suna, leaping away. Reiyka shrugged, she always wondered where Van ran off to at times. She plopped down on the sand. Everything, it seemed, had taken place in the blink of an eye. She then lay down and closed her eyes, feeling the soft sand cushion her.

In a week, I'll be given the throne. I'll get older. I'll face the enemy of my village. And then what?

And what about Gaara?

What about him? she thought. I don't want to leave him… But… Will it work between us? Once I go back, I can never go back, for I have to take care of my own village… and he's the Kazekage as well, he has his own village to take care of. So it's possible that we won't be able to meet anymore…

Why am I thinking about this anyway? Does he care for me? Reiyka opened her eyes. She decided to go back to Suna.

Opening and peering through the door to Gaara's office, she felt disappointed when she saw that he wasn't there. His gourd wasn't there either. Going to the room upstairs, he wasn't there either. She sighed. Reiyka took a quick shower and changed her clothes, wearing a simple black dress. She started to finish fixing her bag, putting on her fingerless gloves, and bandaged her legs before putting on her leg warmers. She left her bag on the floor and tied her hair into a ponytail.

Time is soooo fast, she thought depressingly, looking around the room. I never thought that these things would happen…

Reiyka was startled to feel tears slowly fall down on her cheeks. She wiped them away slowly. "Why am I feeling this?" she sobbed quietly. "It's like I'm being forced to grow up, to be someone I don't think I can be…!"

She remembered something all of a sudden and grabbed her bag. Reaching inside, she took out a small glass vial that was elegantly-shaped containing what seemed to be very fine gray sand. It was her mother's ashes.

Reiyka felt comfort as the warmth from her hands also made the glass surface warm.