I'll Play With You, Gaara
Angel of Anime
Chapter Two:
She didn't care who he was or what he was.
Kimi was awakened by her teammates repeating her name, with a slight headache where she'd been hit; though oddly enough there was no knot or bump. "Hey, you okay?"
She struggled to sit up, rubbing her eyes. Groggily the girl said, "Yeah… I'm fine, Haru." And then, more alert, Kimi stood up and exclaimed, "Gaara! Gaara, he---"
"Huh? Gaara?" inquired Keitaro. He had short black hair and grey-green eyes, wearing a short sleeved shirt with his left forearm bandaged. His shorts were khaki and his weapons pouch, which was a similar color to his pants, was attached to his waist. His sandals were the same shade as Kimi's. The girl shook her head, a sign that she didn't want to answer the question.
Haru said, "Well, we've got the other scroll we needed a while ago, so let's head to the tower." He stood a few inches taller than his other two teammates, Kimi being the shortest. His long-sleeved shirt was navy blue and his shorts were the same. His weapons pouch was brown and strung around his thigh. Gauze covered half of his left leg and his entire right. Holding a pair of black gloves in his hand, he extended his arm to hand them to the kunoichi. "Here, you forgot these." Kimi had taken them off to eat, she remembered, and was grateful that Haru had picked them up for her.
She smiled warmly at him. "Thank you. Let's get going now; I don't want us to be the last to the tower," she giggled faintly and began walking, leaving her comrades to wonder in bewilderment what had happened to her. The boys each shared a silent agreement not to ask unless it seemed she'd be willing to answer. That wouldn't happen though, because Kimi was almost always vague towards them. She had a way of telling them the truth without them being able to understand it. But, they weren't stupid or anything like that; just, always befuddled.
I bet you'll already be at the tower, Gaara, thought Kimi as they were walking quietly. I want to talk with you, so please, don't avoid me, okay? Obviously the one-tailed host couldn't hear her, but she didn't mind. The brunette didn't care about Gaara being a jinchuriki, so why would she care if he couldn't hear her thoughts? Actually, she preferred it that way, because sometimes what was on her mind wasn't something he'd be delighted to hear.
More than an hour later, after going through numerous shinobi that had been trying to get a scroll while they had the chance, the squad of three reached their destination. It cost them a few scratches and a bruise here and there, but they were fine overall. Kimi was beat up the most, though, having a sprained wrist from trying to flip over one of the attackers and a bleeding head because someone had hit it with a large, sharp rock. There was also a painful looking gash on her leg that she'd need stitches for, probably seventeen. Haru, an inexperienced Medical Nin, insisted on healing her at least a little, but she adamantly refused his offer; even though she had to use Keitaro as a crouch.
After the Third Hokage of the Leaf village gave his speech about the Chunnin Exams and what-not, and all the contestants were lead up the stairs onto a platform, everyone watched the first match. There were so many people that came out of the Forest of Death, so they had to break it down by holding Preliminary matches. Kimi didn't pay any attention to any of them, only gazed at Gaara, further confusing her teammates. When Gaara's match finally arrived, before hers and past her Haru's and Keitaro's, she watched intently as he went up against a Leaf ninja.
It was horrifying to see her closest friend treat someone so badly; he didn't have to go all-out, but his eyes were so cold. Just looking at them, into them, while he crushed the boy's leg and arm sent chills up and down her spine. She had goose bumps that she couldn't rid herself of. After his match was hers, and she was put up against Kai Murasaki. Before she sauntered down the steps, still chilled by Gaara's performance, she Kimi remembered Keitaro's and Haru's words before they were both taken away to be treated, both losing their matches. 'With your wounds as bad as they are, you can't fight, Kimi,' were their words of caution. Her response to the two was the same, 'we were given the opportunity to quit before these matches had begun; I didn't quit then, and I won't now.' Now that she knew Gaara was still in, she wanted desperately to stay close to him, even if he wanted nothing at all to do with her. She still loved him.
On the floor now, Kai, her opponent, looked her over and smirked. "You expect to beat me with injuries like that?" he asked smugly.
"I don't expect anything," she stated the simply-put reply. Those that were watching either laughed or wondered who the heck she was, and how could she win when she was still bleeding. Bandages had been wrapped around her leg wound, the most serious of all other injuries, but she'd taken it off before her match when it had been bled through. Kimi would have to finish the match promptly, before loss of blood drained her of her consciousness. Kai wasn't going to go easy on her, however, which made it a little difficult when she was at her weakest.
"Begin," coughed the proctor. In one swift move, Kimi didn't waste time. Blood was flying from her leg and her hair was everywhere, since she'd lost her hair-tie, as she ran at her opponent, but that was the last thing on her mind. Gaara, watch me and see that I'm not just a waste of your time… I'm no pest! She screamed in her mind. Dodging one move, she swung at the orange headed fifteen-year old. She aimed for his face, which he tilted slightly to the left and laugh like it was some horrifically amusing joke, like she was the joke.
His fisted hand flew into her stomach with immense strength and she sputtered out blood from her mouth. One of her ribs was out now, but she was stronger than that. The training she'd gone through in return for the medical help taught her that pain didn't really exist, that it was something people made up in order to separate each other; to separate those that were weak and those that were strong.
Dropping to the ground, she spun into a roundhouse kick that the boy couldn't jump over. As she thought, she legs were feeble; that was why he didn't run or move far from his spot. He didn't want to give it away with his movements. She smiled gingerly at her discovery, and with Kai being on the ground, she stomped on his stomach once before he could force himself up. He wasn't going to give up quickly, either. Too bad…for him.
Gaara twitched at the fight and his siblings' and sensei's thoughts were worried as before; his bloodlust still wasn't satisfied after his last match. And, there were also Temari's mental thoughts, which she was sure Kankuro must've been querying to himself, too: Isn't that the girl from before? But…Gaara didn't kill her? She exchanged glances with her younger brother with purple make-up, asking him with her green eyes, but he didn't have an answer, his dark eyes the same. Their sensei, Baki, hadn't seen the girl in the forest, so he didn't know about it.
On his feet now, Kai smirked again and punched Kimi in the nose, which caused that part of her to spring out thick red liquid as well. She cried out in pain, but didn't lose any focus. Her vision was beginning to blur now; she must have lost over six percent of her blood by this time, but she tried her best to keep herself from dropping onto the ground. Kimi's head was banging hard, and she was seeing five Kai's instead of only one. I've got to finish this quickly, now!
Pushing her hands to the Kai in the middle, the kunoichi found him solid and thrust a series of punches and kicks at him so quickly that he could neither dodge nor deflect them. He had no way of defending himself, and finally, with a final burst of her energy, Kimi defeated him. The proctor named her winner of the match, then. Kimi breathed hard, inhaling and exhaling as if it took a lot of work. Looking at her opponent on the ground, cursing himself for losing against a girl, she smiled wearily; her eyes slowly dropped until they were finally closed, and she fell onto the floor before the Medic Nins even came out. Do you still think…I'm a waste of your time… huh, Gaara? She mentally asked before her mind shut itself down.
A/n: Chapter two, complete. I hope it's not too boring or too jumbled up. I tried a fight-sort-of scene, but who knows if it's good? Well, please review, 'k? Much appreciated, thanks!