©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)

Disclaimer: Alright! *fist punches the air* I am READY!!! Write, write, write!!! I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 16: Sunagakure Continued

"Gaara-sama, a report straight from the hospital. It's a little troubling, but shouldn't be a problem. If anything, it should be an advantage." The adult ninja bowed before the red-haired teen, relaying the message. Gaara rested upon a chair and looked upon the messenger as if bored. He sat up with a slow easy movement, everything about him declaring power and authority.

"Report." His voice sounded as lethargic as he looked, but held just as much power. The man obeyed willingly.

"The girl you have brought here, Yasu-san, has expressed an extraordinary ability for healing. She has used nothing but home-made remedies to treat her clearly serious wound, and it has half-healed in just a day. We believe if she had some real medical training, it would greatly benefit whichever village she belonged to." Gaara's eyes focused upon the messenger with curiosity.

"What are you suggesting?" The messenger kept his head bowed and continued in an emotionless voice.

"The hospital staff have discussed it; they believe whole-heartedly that we should seek training for Yasu, and make her a Sand ninja. If not a full-fledged sand, then an honorary member, which we could signify with a wristband. We would like to present the idea to her soon." Gaara twirled a cork between his fingers thoughtfully.

"I shall ask her." The messenger bowed. "You may go." He left. Gaara stood with a sigh and left his office to find the Leaf Genin, who was probably already out and exploring, even though the sun had just come up, and last night she had been out in the horse field long past dark.

~*~*~*~*~

"Wow! Look at that!" Yasu spoke to herself, wandering a 'main street' of the village, where a lot of shops were. She ducked into another shop that had an array of plants in the window, and came out with another bag; granted, it was a small bag, but there were three others. She continued walking down the street and looked at a stand of clothes. There were some really fancy kimonos and clothes there, and they were very well-priced for their quality. Yasu admired them, knowing she could afford no such thing, and it was foolish to waste money on something so unpractical. But, then again, some missions were undercover, and fitting in at a fancy event as a woman might come up sometime; it would certainly help in that situation.

Her hand ran over the silk of a beautiful green with imprints on it of brown/orange dark patterns that looked like horses. She studied them for a minute and realized they WERE horses, in various positions like running, bucking, jumping, and… well, it was just amazing. She thought for a while, and the shopkeeper offered assistance.

"No, I'm alright… I love this dress- kimono, but I'm pretty sure I could not afford it."

"We'll take it, please. Just package it to go." A hand settled on Yasu's shoulder and she froze, then slowly turned to see Gaara handing over the money. The shopkeeper smiled and took it off display, and Yasu balked.

"I don't need it for anything, I was just looking! Don't! I'm not going to buy it!" The shopkeeper paused, looking from Gaara to Yasu.

"Yes, you will need it, if you're planning on coming to any of the ceremonies. They won't be casual wear, or even practical wear, but you're welcome to wear that underneath, if you wish." Shopkeeper continued folding the garment.

"Don't buy it for me! That's about 20,000 yen ($172-ish)! I won't accept it!" The shopkeeper sighed and stopped again.

"Fine, pay half if you must. Or, refund me later. Just package it, now, please." Finally, the money changed hands and Gaara held a nicely wrapped kimono. He held it out for Yasu. She looked at it wistfully and turned over Gaara's debt-system in her head, then accepted and took the dress lightly, clutching it to her chest.

"Thank you! Just take it out of my mission fee." Yasu grinned and rejoiced, waving goodbye to the shopkeeper. Once they had walked a ways, in no particular direction and for no particular reason, she stopped and looked up at Gaara. "Aren't you supposed to be… you know, getting ready or something?" He turned to her, finally settling.

"Yes. I will go in a minute, but the hospital has informed me that they believe you could benefit from some medical training. Of course, they really mean they could benefit from you-" Gaara grunted as Yasu tackled (nah, that's not the right word… you all know what glomp is, right? Well, learn it. She glomped him.) him and caught his breath when she backed up, eyes shining.

"Medical training? With chakra and everything? I would love to! I can't tell you how long my skills have seemed inadequate! When do I start?" Gaara smiled, regaining his composure.

"Whenever you wish, I suppose. However, I would like to… quiz you, later today. Meet me in my lobby at 4 pm. I'll see you there, and good luck training." He walked away, smiling, then disappeared in a sand whirlwind. Yasu took off running towards the hospital and burst through the doors, drawing attention. She immediately calmed down after realizing that, and walked up to the receptionist, who seemed alarmed at Yasu's exuberance.

"Who is hurt? I'll call the doctors, right away." She reached for a button, but Yasu stopped her.

"I'm just here for medical training, Gaara has sent me." The receptionist raised an eyebrow at Yasu's casual reference to the Kazekage-to-be, but pressed the button and spoke to a doctor.

"Yasu is here for training, Kazekage-sama has sent her already." A voice came back and asked for Yasu to be sent right over. "Alright, go down the hallway behind me, and it's the third door on your left." Yasu thanked her and came to the door shortly, swinging it open quietly.

"I'm here for training?" She could hardly keep her excitement contained, and a female doctor approached her.

"Hello, I'm Hotaru. Right this way, we'll get to work on some chakra exercises right away." The day passed with Yasu's progress continuing to impress Hotaru-sensei, and by the end of the training, Yasu could easily summon healing chakra as well as destructive chakra. She bowed to Hotaru, agreeing to come back the next day, and went to find Gaara. Showing up a little early wouldn't hurt.

After a short wait, Gaara appeared in a sand whirlwind by Yasu's side. She startled and jumped to her feet, having been nearly drowsing in the chair.

"Your quiz is this: eat, dance, sit, stand. Only, you must do it as if you are royalty!" Yasu's look of confusion turned to disgust.

"You mean be all petite and… take little bites, and be generally uncomfortable?" Gaara smiled again.

"Yes, that's mostly it. Now, first we'll practice sitting." He gestured to a couple chairs, and Yasu strode over to one and sat down lightly, crossing her legs and folding her hands on her lap.

"Fancy enough?" Gaara corrected her, telling her to cross her ankles instead, and keep her arms on the armrests. Fidgeting wasn't a good thing, and if your hands were together, you'd probably fidget. He made her sit up straight and look proud, and then she had to practice getting in and out of the chair.

After thirty minutes, Gaara had his hand over his face and Yasu was trying her best to stand in high heels. She wobbled as she walked, and finally tried to look at this in a new light: as if it were ninja training. When she looked at it that way, it was a lot easier to walk, because it became a balance exercise. She practiced for another few minutes, and Gaara finally sighed and called it quits.

"Alright, you have two training lessons every day for the next week. Now, today's… Tuesday, so you will have your etiquette lessons until next Sunday, and your med lessons until next Tuesday. Wednesday will be a day of rest before we journey back to the Leaf Village. Any questions?" Yasu thought it over, much more comfortable to be receiving directions.

"I'll see you tomorrow then. Oh, one question, why will these lessons stop on Sunday?"

"Monday is the day they will be put to the test, and you would do well to remember them. It's the day I'm officially Kazekage, and you'll be sitting at my table, so we have to get you ready. You're not crowd-shy, are you?" Yasu thought for a little, and decided she wasn't, as long as she wasn't supposed to do anything in particular. Sitting there and filling a space would be fine, even if everyone stared when she was introduced.

"As long as I don't have to do anything, I'll be fine." Gaara gave Yasu a look that made her apprehensive. "Wait, I… I won't have to do anything, will I?"

"Well, there's a dance, and I was hoping you'd be my partner, but I'm sure I can find someone else. Besides, I'm not too sure you can dance all that well."

"I can dance perfectly fine! Well, I could, if I learned!" Yasu protested, not sure which side of this argument she was on yet. Gaara just smiled and left with a quick 'goodbye'.

That night, after she'd gone through the horse field again and even ridden some of the more bad-tempered ponies, Yasu fell asleep quickly and happily.

~*~*~*~In Konoha~*~*~*~

Shikamaru and Temari left the Hokage's meeting room, where they discussed their mission. They were ready to go to sleep, now that it was almost sunrise, when a loud racket reached their ears. Temari stood back in shock as Shikamaru was plowed over as an orange blur ran by. Naruto skidded to a halt and caught Shikamaru by his jacket, setting him on his feet, when he disappeared in a poof and the real Shikamaru stepped from behind Temari.

She thought, 'Of course Shikamaru's not so out of it that he'd let Naruto catch him with that, especially with the preceding clamor…' Naruto laughed and hung his arm over Shikamaru's shoulder, recovering quickly, but panting.

"I'm glad I caught you guys! Did you just get back from the escort mission?" Temari began to answer, but Naruto cut her off, turning serious. "Is Yasu alright? Did something happen to her?" Jiraiya's jogging footsteps sounded from around the curved hallway and he came into sight, panting as well.

"Sorry about Naruto, you know him. We can come back later if you'd like to rest first." The two Jonin (Tem and Shika) considered it for a second, then shook their heads, agreeing on something silently.

"Yasu will be fine, she's probably mostly healed by now. We ran in to some enemy jonin out there, but we chased them off. Yasu didn't get away so easily, but she did have her opponent trapped, despite being stabbed through the side." Shikamaru said lightly, but the others could tell he was worried as they were, even Temari was concerned. Naruto turned to the Sage.

"I'm going to the sand village now, ok? Are you going to come with me?" Jiraiya scoffed disbelievingly.

"What's gotten into your head, kid? You're NOT going, and that's final. Yasu will be fine, you heard. If you're so concerned, send a messenger hawk. And didn't you hear they were attacked by jonin? You don't think you could handle that on your own, do you? Go back to your room and get some sleep, you've been up all night training! I'll go look into this, it doesn't seem right. I'll tell you what Tsunade lets me know, ok?" Naruto set his feet and refused to move.

"I'm coming with you." Shikamaru and Temari sighed and departed, realizing they were no longer the focus. Jiraiya turned to Naruto and got right in his face.

"You are going back to your room now, before you kill yourself. Don't tell me you won't, you've almost done it before. Now, you can take this scroll," he took a scroll out of his jacket, "and write a good long letter to her, so you'll know she's fine. This is her mission, not yours, and she needs to show Tsunade what she's worth. You can understand that, I know. Now go on, I'll tell you what I find." Naruto gave a stubborn look to Jiraiya, but turned to go. He immediately fell onto his face, half-asleep and exhausted. He stood again and left irritably, saying nothing to Jiraiya, who had chuckled.

He arrived in his room and lit a candle, hardly needing it for the lightening sky outside. He unrolled the scroll and began writing, until the sun was up and hovering over the horizon. He settled into bed, the scroll tied with a green thread and a hair from Akira's tail that he'd given willingly.

Naruto yawned and grinned at the scroll, and it teetered on the edge of his fingers as he fell asleep. Akira, who had let himself in through the window (he'd shrunk himself) took the scroll and set it on the bedside table and pulled a sheet over the exhausted Kyuubi-ninja with fondness for the boy and respect for what he saw inside, and settled in for the day as guard. If he was precious to Yasu, he would be accepted.

Akira sighed at the thoughts running through his mind. He was only a young tailed beast, and humanlike thoughts ran through his head; the greater level of intelligence was welcome, but he could no longer be 'just a horse', however grand he'd been as a horse. The Ninetail fox was inside Naruto, he'd known it all along, but now it was becoming a problem to him. If the ninetail was this evil, wouldn't that make him so as well? Yasu was first and foremost in his mind, but with her absent, he could consider if she hadn't been there. He would probably have been killed, or sealed, just as the Kyuubi was. Akira looked towards Naruto's seal, exposed because Naruto was only sleeping with shorts on and had ruffled the sheets.

"What's it like, being in there? How do you get along with your container?" Akira thought, not expecting an answer. He snorted when a voice he knew could be none other than the demon's answered. Naruto grunted and tossed in his sleep.

"Who speaks?" Akira laid his ears back, then set them forward, alert.

"I do, another tailed creature, like yourself." Akira felt the Kyuubi laugh and grin.

"Well, I must say I'm surprised. I have spoken to no one but my container since I was sealed. Your questions are deep ones. In here it is miserable, feeling the human emotions, unable to move. Of course, you are liked by my container, and I feel the emotion, but I do not share it." The Kyuubi warned. Akira nodded.

"Of course." The Ninetail grinned in approval and spoke again, for the last time.

"My container, Naruto, is not so bad as humans go. He has qualities I admire, but I do not have the slightest bit of affection for this boy. The one you travel with is odd, though. It disquiets me while she is around. I would like to talk with her. Don't get defensive, I will not harm her. When she returns, let her speak with me." The Kyuubi fell silent and Akira thought, a little unnerved, but he felt there was much more to the demon's words that what he had let out. He seemed fond of Naruto, no matter what he said. He didn't seem to want to hurt Yasu, either, only curiosity. Thoughts pestered Akira as the day passed, and Naruto slept well.

I write this stuff off the top of my head, I hope you know. Seriously. I had no idea Akira could talk with Kyuubi. Or Kyuubi wanted to talk to Yasu. Where is this coming from? I don't Know! ^_^ Oh well. I'll work some more on my other fanfic, but it'll be a while before I get any other chapters up, school work… *sigh* well, Sayonara, Dattebayo!