Kaji

Later when I come out of the shower, this time in clothes, I find in the main area Gaara, Saiyo, and Sai... wait... Saiyo... Sai... I stand there to ponder this for a moment.

Sai

I hear Kaji come out of the bathroom quietly and turn to look, to find a strange sight. Kaji's just standing there emotionless face and out of focus eyes. After a bit I bring this to the Kazekage's attention by tapping him lightly on the shoulder. He looks over and so does Saiyo. No one seems to know what to do though because they just stare at her confused.I look back to her and see why they were confused. It seems when Kaji goes into a daze her chakra concentrates and forming what looks like blood red and black flames. The flames pulsate like a heart beat... wonder why...

Kaji

Finally deciding not to further confuse myself I drop the topic and snap out of my daze. I look up at everyone... and they're all staring at me. I break the silence

"What?"

It seems I wasn't the only one in a daze because everyone takes a minute then blinks and looks mildly startled. And I thought I was the only one to go into a daze for strange reasons... wonder what theirs was... I realize at last why they were staring when I look down at my feet and see a large scorch mark around me. Seems I was on fire again. Thank gawd for fire proof cloths... or I might be in trouble again. It seems Saiyo was the first person to really snap out of it because she's first to comment

"You were on fire! and it was all pulsey-like!"

Her eyes go wide with excitement. I stand there for a second feeling uncomfortable under their gaze, so I do the easy thing and Inferno-step out of there and into my room.

The night passes like a blur. The whole time I listened for the footsteps of Saiyo or Sai leaving. I guess Saiyo was staying the night... but why hadn't Sai gone home? Oh yah! he's supposed to act as my team mate in protecting Gaara... must have been ordered to stay here too...

The next day I leave my room before everyone and feeling oddly hungry, get to cooking breakfast. At the smell of cooking though everyone comes out and mildly stuffs their faces. After Gaara brings attention to himself saying something about some announcement or another...I didn't really listen to that part.

"Ok since I'm just going to be doing more Kage duties with the Hokage and since it's likely Saiyo will fallow me"

She nods enthusiastically

"You guys get the day off. BUT! before you go run off to do your own thing I have one... no two rules. The first you two have to stick together, and Kaj that doesn't include the washrooms, we don't want anyone going in the wrong washroom. This is mostly for two reasons. One Kaji you get lost easily in new places and two it's better if Sai sticks close so if you sense any danger you won't have to look for him... that would likely turn out chaotic... any ways the second rule, and this applies only to you Kaj, is don't kill any one that isn't a threat to someone's life."

Awww... but that's so much fun...

"hey why do I get more rules than Sai?"

I complain in the usual emotionless way... as strange as that may sound it is possible. Gaara sighs and gives in not wanting to deal with me right now

"Fine. Sai your second rule is... uh... well this will be hard... uh... don't be... uh... don't be so unemotional... yah..."

With that he grimaces lightly and gives me a 'you happy now?' look. I nod in return then get up and drag Sai out the door.

Once out I automatically head for the elevator, but Sai seems to mildly freak out as we get closer and has what seems to be a light panic attack once we're in front of it. His actions are confusing to me so I ask.

"what? you afraid of heights?"

He shakes his head no

" No but last time I got on that thing it flattened me"

Oh ok now it makes sense.

"Well then we'll have to get down my way"

I grin in excitement. You don't get many chances to do this in the dessert since the highest point is way to low to do it. Sai seems to be a bit worried as I grin. Good, he has reason to be... or will at least. To get the benefit of surprise I act without warning. I grab him around the waist and run at almost full speed towards the closest window. Which happens to be at the other end of the hall. Sai almost clings to my arm as I run past the apartment door, startling Gaara and Saiyo who were just leaving, then passed the Mizukage's room and towards the window. With an earsplitting crash and the quiet tinkle of shattered glass falling through the air, we break through the window and into open air, then moments later we're plummeting through the air towards the ground. The rush pulls at my hair and cloths begging to rip them back up into the air. I refuse the air's pull as we continue to plummet down. By now people have noticed us falling and are starring in horror at what to them , and likely Sai, was the impending doom of us. This only makes my grin wider. The exhilaration continues then intensifies as we reach the fifteen feet limit. I'd at least warn him of one thing and whisper in his ear

"things are going to get a bit hot in a second"

and an instant later my vision's covered in flames. All around us is a ever shifting ball of fire. Within five feet of the ground it expands to match the hight and touches the ground, slowing us down considerably. It then starts to shrink as the space shrinks, until my feet lightly touch the ground. Never before have I jumped from that high before, nor with a passenger. Speaking of passengers I look down at mine and notice that I'm still holding him around the waist and he's doing the same to me... albeit his grip's a bit tighter and he has his face half buried in my shoulder. He seems tense and he sags lightly in my grasp, almost as if he'd fall to the ground if I let go of him. I try to break the tension

"Well that was exhilarating! Oh crap..."

something new had come to my attention... Sai's clothing hadn't been fire proof... and well there was still enough left to cover him , but not enough to be 'decent' in Gaara's definition... thank gawd for my trusty pa... double crap... it was still in my room... hm... what to do... I look around, then notice what I'm wearing. Strangely enough I had decided to wear a dress like shirt that had slits up to my thighs, large guy shorts and tighter shorts under those. I have a plan.

Moments later the plan has been executed, with little complaint from now the only slightly stunned Sai. He was now wearing my black guy shorts and the bandages covering the scars on my arms and legs as a shirt... that seems to for some strange reason not to cover his stomach... not that I was complaining... hm? where'd that thought come from? Anyways I help the wobbly Sai to his feet then start to head into town towing him behind me by the hand. As I continue to walk through town and Sai continues to recover people start to stare, no biggy I'm used to that stuff. It's the whispering that got to me... well not the whispering in it's self but what they are whispering about. Things like 'Oh my! seems the emotionless boy has a girlfriend... or is that a pet?' and 'Do you think those cat ears and the tail are real? they look pretty real to me... OH my word they twitched!' after that the people who were done staring and whispering would continue on with their day. I try to ignore it but the more I try the louder it seems to get till I hear something from behind me. It's no more than a whisper but the voice is familiar...

"A girlfriend? but I just met her..."

I choose to look like I didn't hear and not respond to his whisper. Instead I turn around and drag up Sai so he's standing at his full hight... never noticed he was taller than me... Not wanting to admit that Gaara was right and that I was utterly lost I ask

"Sai, stand up! what is there to do in this town?"

He blinks a few times thinking, then responds

" Well there is a festival being held in the town center in"

He looks up at the sky

"about half an hour, but it's fancy dress only..."

He looks like he was going to continue with what he was saying but gets a look of focusing on the distance. I turn around and wouldn't you know it Saiyo's gone and snuck up behind me. I jump back a bit, startled that I didn't sense her coming, and De Ja Vu! I tumble into Sai who unlike Sakura catches me rather than falling over. I look up at him and unknowingly smile while saying

"Thanks! Good catch"

Looking back at Saiyo she has a small pout on her face She then burst out

"Awww! I wanted to say Boo!"

The pout quickly disappears though when Gaara comes up to the group. It seems I had been wandering for hours and they had been following us...

"Hey Panda-chan! did you see that! Kitty-chan just smiled! A real smile!"

Gaara looks shocked

"Really? who did it?"

"Kitty-chan!"

" no I mean who made her smile?"

"Oh! him!"

she points at Sai. It seems he hadn't noticed that I was still were I was from being caught... It was oddly comfortable in his arms. Just the right amount of muscle! heh... any who... Gaara looks over at me, then Sai, then seems to look at the scene as a whole and mutters to himself

"seems I should have made Sai's second rule keep your hands off my cousin"

I want to laugh so badly at that moment, no one had been protective of me before and it was amusing to see Gaara get so into the big brother role after such a short time... and even though technically I was the oldest in the group