The Team 7 missions were minute and practically made for academy students. Ura watched from the sidelines as she watched Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto complete the basic missions around the village. She helped Naruto out more, pointing out which were weeds and plants, helping him with walking a rather large dog, and catching him before he fell off a waterfall. Who knew one Genin could get in so much trouble? Ura merely just sighed and walked off once he was ok on his own. Kakashi glanced over at her from reading his book, "You won't be around forever to help him."

"I can't just watch him fail," Ura commented as she leaned against a tree, "He is great as a ninja with just some help and guidance."

"He's not a kid anymore, and besides," Kakashi stood up, smiling down at her, "I will grant or deny you permission to help my student for now on."

"Really now?" Ura smirked as she turned her gaze to Kakashi, "If you think you can stop me, then go ahead."

"Oh, but I can, several times before haven't I?" Kakashi pointed out.

Ura looked off to the side. No matter how many times she could beat the Genin and some Chunin, she could never win a fight against Kakashi or a few of the other Jonin. As much as she wanted to get tougher missions that were in a team, no Chunin would take her in their team. Only because she was still a Genin, but Ura was determined that she would gain more experience in Suna anyways. She continued to watch the three Genin, Naruto waved at her from time-to-time, but she had to say… When she left, she would miss them.

Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto were dismissed from the small missions for the day and free to go about the village. Ura didn't really know what to do that day since she trained at night anymore since the Chunin Exams weren't too far away. She looked over at Sakura, but the Leaf kunoichi was going after Sasuke. Poor girl, she's just going to get denied again. So, instead, Ura turned over to Naruto to see he was talking to his little academy friends. For such a team, they didn't really quite click together like Kakashi had hoped, or that was what Ura could see. She turned to see Sakura sulking back with her tail between her legs. Ura went over and patted her shoulder, "At least you get to see him later on."

"He said… I was… Worse than Naruto…" Sakura grumbled as she glared over at the blonde shinobi.

Ura also looked over at Naruto and shrugged, "Well, he could've said you are as ugly as shit. It's not all that bad…"

"Coming from you," Sakura growled over at Ura, "He never says stuff like that to you."

"Because I don't really care what he has to say in the first place," Ura smiled as she put her hands behind her head.

One of the academy kids said something that both Ura and Sakura heard. Something about Sakura's forehead and how large it was. The next thing Ura could see was Sakura running at them furiously in hopes of knocking their teeth out. Ura just smiled and watched the little academy kid run, but froze when the kid ran into someone. She looked at the shadowy figure until a familiar resemblance started to occur in her mind. The Suna kunoichi walked over to get a better look and then smiled widely, "Well look who it is!"

Kankurou smiled over at her as he picked the kid up by his collar, "Is this yours?"

"Nope, I'm afraid he's one of the crazy ones escaping the asylum," Ura went over to him, then saw Temari behind him, "I didn't receive a letter saying you were participating in these exams."

"We sent them kinda late," Temari shrugged, but then playfully punched Ura's upper arm, "It's been awhile, you think you're strong enough to compete in these exams?"

"I'm going to have to be, I'll be on my own," Ura stated proudly, causing Temari and Kankurou to give her a shocked look, "What?"

"That's against the rules," Temari pointed out as she crossed her arms, "How come you get the special treatment?"

"Because I plan on leaving here and going back to Suna after these damn tests," Ura sighed, then looked over at Kankurou, "Are you going to hold him there all day, Kankurou?"

"Well, I just want to teach him a lesson, or two," Kankurou balled up his fists and aimed to punch the kid.

"Fine, just make it quick," Temari rolled her eyes, "I'm just not apart of this, ok?"

"Whatever," Kankurou smirked as he readied his punch.

Out of the corner of Ura's eye, she could see Sasuke swooping onto the tree and throwing a small rock at Kankurou's wrist. It would damage his wrist slightly so he couldn't use his puppetry for probably a day or two. Still, it was risky on Suna's part if Ura didn't step in. She quickly pulled out a hari and deflected the rock before it hit Kankurou's wrist and sent it back towards the Uchiha at a faster speed. Of course, he caught it and crushed it to pieces as Kankurou let the academy kid run away. Ura stared up at the Uchiha as Kankurou called over to him to fight him at a closer distance. When he was about to bring out Karasu, Ura gently put a hand on his arm, "He's just a boy, besides you want to save all that fun for the exams."

"True," Kankurou grimaced, then froze one more time.

"Kankurou, you're a disgrace to our village."

That voice. His charka presence. Ura couldn't help but feel her heart skip a beat at the velvet voice echo through her mind. Yes, his presence gave her an ominous feeling that made her nervous, but she trusted that voice before. She had given her friendship to that voice and heard that voice laugh at one point years ago. Her eyes glided to the face that made her want to tear her heart out for what must've happened when she had left. Ura and Gaara stared eye-to-eye with each other that felt like an eternity for her. She heard him say something to Sasuke, then dissipate into sand and reappeared in front of Kankurou. How could he not say anything to her? Didn't he read that letter she left for him? Or didn't he hear her call out to him right before she left? Why was he simply ignoring her as if she wasn't from the same village as him? Ura was about to say something, but Gaara glided his icy eyes towards her as if to remind her that she wasn't allowed to speak.

"Ughm…. Gaara, you remember Ura right?" Temari walked over to Ura timidly and held her arm, "She was in our village for a few-"

"I have no recollection of her," Gaara simply stated as he began to walk away.

Ura felt her throat tighten, rage flooded through her body, and her tongue was about to bleed from how tightly she was biting it. How could he say he didn't know her? What the hell happened after she left? Nothing was making sense to her! Sasuke called over to Gaara, "You, with the gourd, what's your name?"

Gaara turned with his arms crossed, "I'm Gaara of the Sand. I'm curious about you too…who are you?"

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha," he answered with a defiant smirk.

Ura didn't care what the Uchiha had to say. She was devastated that Gaara had simply forgotten her over the years of separation. Natural yes, but…she had hoped that he would've at least asked about her to his siblings. Temari looked over at Ura and gave her arm a gently squeeze, then released her to follow Gaara. Kankurou then murmured to Ura, "Hey, meet me later at the Leaf Hotel, I need to talk to you about a few things that we didn't mention in the letters for your own safety."

"Sure…" Ura managed to say, then he also followed Gaara.

Once they were out of sight, Ura gasped for air and took a step back. She had to find Gaara later and say something to him. He had to remember her, or at least something about her. It wasn't fair in the end… She didn't choose to go to Leaf and she didn't choose to stay. The anger that rushed through her was so great that she had to hit something, something that would break. In her fit of anger, Ura made a swift movement and punch the ground beneath her with all of her strength. To the surprise of the Genin and academy students around her, Ura's punch was enough to start bringing up the earth around the gaping hole beneath her. When Ura finally felt some of the anger seep out of her, she stood up and leaped out of the hole. She was greeted by an icy glare by Sasuke, "What the hell is wrong now?"

"You deflected the stone I threw at that puppet guy," Sasuke glared even harder at her, "Who's side are you on?"

"Obviously theirs!" Ura shouted loudly at him, "I'm not on your damn team and I'm not apart of this damn village! Get that through your sad little head! We are not equals!"

Ura stomped off in her fit of anger, but froze when Sasuke grumbled, "You're just mad because your own village doesn't want you back, nor does that Gaara guy."

Hell was going to break loose. Ura had her back to the Uchiha when she pulled out her umbrella, taking out one hari as well and stabbed the tip of the umbrella. No one… Absolutely no one says anything like that to Ura and gets away with it. When she turned, her light brown eyes were fierce and turning blood red from the rage. Sasuke smirked and got into a fighting stance, "Let's go."

Sakura was trying to diffuse the fight, but Naruto just pulled her back with the help of the academy kids. It was pointless to try and stop Ura when she was livid. Ura tossed that umbrella into the air as Sasuke drew his kunai and ran at her. She pulled out two hari, throwing them at him quickly and began to throw more until they were scattered everywhere. The kunoichi waited until the last minute to dodge his kunai blade, slicing the side of her forearm. It wasn't too bad, just enough to spill some blood on the ground. When Sasuke realized that he had shed some of her blood, he thought the battle was over when Ura remained still. He smirked over at her, twirling the kunai in his right hand, "Too slow."

"I thought we were just getting started," Ura returned his smirk as she ran her fingers across the flesh wound on her arm.

Once her hand was soaked in blood, she snapped her arm in the direction her scattered hari were in. She had droplets of blood all over the scattered hari. Sasuke didn't understand why she was doing that, was it just a scare tastic? If so, then it just creeped him out more than actually scaring him. What got him more confused was seeing her eyes change color from brown to crimson red. Like…a blood red. Ura then flicked both her wrists, something caught Sasuke's eyes. It was a thin string, but blood was soaking all the way up from the hari to Ura's fingers. His eyes widened, what type of jutsu was she performing in front of him? Ura's smirk became wider as she tightened her arms, raising them above her head as all her hari that were touched by the blood droplets lifted into the air. Sasuke then understood what was going to happen and what jutsu she was performing. It was her kekkei-genkai, Blood Jutsu. Sasuke ran at her at his top speed, but Ura stomped her foot into the ground and the other blood she had spilt on the ground formed a sticky barrier around Sasuke. Ura manipulated the blood to form a sticky string around his neck to start choking him, unable to be broken from the strength of her charka control.

Sasuke growled angrily at the predicament she had put him in. Ura just walked over to him with her hari still in the air as her hands gently held her waist, "This is what I can do, Sasuke, and this is just a warning. Start talking shit like that again, and I swear to Kami, I will not let you live."

In an instant, the blood turned to normal blood. Sasuke felt the sticky substance ooze all over him as the blood barrier soaked him. He wreaked of blood as Ura easily gathered her hari with her charka sting and summoned back her umbrella in the sky. She had forgotten why she had threw it up there, but she would have to come up with better jutsu next time she decided to battle someone. The others just stared at the two Genin with surprise. One: Sasuke had lost again. Two: Ura's kekkei-genkai finally became revealed. Ura turned to the others and just nodded towards Naruto, "Well, want to get something to eat?"

:::::::::::::

Suna Team

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They hadn't even been gone for five minutes that Temari witnessed Ura's fighting skills. She was impressed that the other Suna kunoichi had used her kekkei-genkai with such ease. Especially since most people were afraid of blood or got sick at the sight of it. Though Temari wanted to watch more of the match, she watched as Ura let the cute Sasuke guy go away with his life. When she noticed Gaara also watching, Temari felt a bit unease. Gaara just glared at Ura as if she had tried to kill him instead of the Uchiha. Through the years of Ura's departure, Gaara had actually blamed most of what happened on her. She had heard him mumble that he was planning on killing her when they reached the village. Then why hadn't he? Did he change his mind? Or was it because he saw how strong she had gotten over the years? Temari wanted to warn Ura quickly of what Gaara was planning on doing, but Kankurou had beat her first.

::::::::::::

That Evening

::::::::::::

Ura watched as the waning moon began to rise from the same cliff she had taken Naruto to the other day. It was nice having Gaara near her, but she needed to find him before she went to the hotel that Kankurou was staying at. She needed to talk to him in person before anything else was said. He needed to know her side of the story. After the moon was high in the sky, Ura leaped away from the forest and roof-to-roof until she found the one Genin she was looking for. Ura stood behind Gaara as he sat on the highest roof in the village and gazing at the moon. She felt very odd near him now since they were both older than they were before they separated. Though she was also three years his senior, Ura still felt that connection as if they were never separated. Was it strange to want to protect someone that much when he was merely 12 and she was 15?

She was about to say something, but Gaara beat her to it again, "Come any closer…and I'll kill you."

"I know you remember me," Ura stated as she took a step closer, causing his gourd to open and sand slowly seeped out.

Without taking another step, Ura waited for his response. He didn't turn to look at her, "I don't care."

"What happened was out of my control. I didn't choose to leave you alone, Gaara. If I had been given the choice, I would've stayed in the village and been with you. Didn't you even get that letter I wrote you before-"

"You're wasting my time," Gaara slowly stood up and then turned to glare at her, "Stop talking."

"You're not listening to-"

Sand instantly covered her mouth as more sand wrapped around her body. She felt the sand drag her closer to him as he glared even harder at her, "If you even take one step back into my village, I will hunt you down and kill you slowly."

Gaara was about to crush her, but realized he was merely holding a clone. Her 'skin' started to liquefy into blood in his sand. He turned and saw her standing besides him. Ura wasn't going to hurt him, a smile formed on her face as she put her hands behind her head, "Since you won't listen to me, I'll just be quick. No matter how many times you threaten me, I'm going to be the one who will protect you."

He just gave her a cold stare as Ura jumped off the building and entered the hotel across the street…

As soon as she knocked on the door where Kankurou was staying, he opened it and nearly punched her face. Ura hadn't expected his punch and stumbled back into the wall as she held her head, "What the fuck, Kankurou!"

"Are you trying to die!" Kankurou shouted as he threw her into his hotel room, "Gaara wants you dead and you go and visit him! Alone!"

"How was I supposed to know he actually remembered me! He didn't say anything to me earlier!"

Kankurou calmed down just enough to tell Ura everything that happened to Gaara after she had left for the Leaf. Ura was horrified that Yashamaru willingly tried to kill Gaara and the other assassins. She felt her stomach churn at what could've been prevented. Even at a young age, she knew that she could've helped Gaara more than what anyone else was trying to do. She sat on one of the beds in the room and just thought about what Kankurou said. Gaara was the monster everyone thought him to be, he became what Ura didn't want him to be. Blood thirsty. Angry. Hate. Evil. Ura wanted to cry for Gaara, but it was pointless. He was who he was and there was nothing she could do at that point. Ura just had to keep to her promise to him and do her best to protect him so he could pass the Chunin Exams. She wanted the best for Gaara, even when he wanted her dead she wouldn't give up on him.

The Suna shinobi noticed Ura's silence as he washed the paint off of his face, "I… There's one more thing…you ought to know before you forgive Gaara completely."

Ura looked up to see Kankurou's saddened eyes, "What?"

"You see, it was a few days after you left when this one happened. Gaara…well…he killed your dad for sending you away…"

All was still as Ura heard the news of her father's too soon death. She was angry with him, yes, but…to kill him? Over the years, she had forgiven her father for sending her to the Leaf. But, in recent years, she had prophetic dreams that he had only wanted her safety. Ura felt tears sting her eyes as her feelings for Gaara were in jeopardy. Kankurou sat across from Ura, not really knowing what or say to her for comfort. He reached over and held her limp hand, giving it a soft squeeze, "I'm sorry…"

"I'm…I'm not sad that he's dead, it was his time probably. My mother, is she ok? How was the baby?" Ura asked as she thought of her mother.

"Your mom is fine and the baby is healthy, it's a girl she named Leila," Kankurou answered, hoping Ura wasn't going to break down in tears.

It felt like her heart was going to tear to pieces. How could she just leave her family since her dad was dead by Gaara's hands. It wasn't fair at all… Ura looked out the window to still see Gaara gazing up at the moon. She wanted to hate him and hurt him for killing her family. It wasn't fair that he got to choose who could live and die! He couldn't play the role of Kami! But… Ura calmed down, she had to forgive him as well. Gaara didn't lead a normal life and never will. Hating him will only fuel him. Wanting to hurt him will only get herself killed. How could she help him without wanting to kill him when he least expected it?

"So… What are you thinking?" Kankurou asked, hoping to divert the conversation.

"Well… I forgive Gaara," Ura sighed as she continued to gaze at Gaara through the clear window, "And… I'm going to keep my promise and protect him with everything that I am."

"Wait…what?" Kankurou looked at her as if she were crazy, "Did I hear you right?"

Ura turned over to Kankurou and shrugged, "My father wasn't a good man, so I know why Gaara killed him. I will visit his grave to pray for his spirit. But, for Gaara, I want to mend what we had before. I will continue to fight for him until he realizes that I want to make up for my absence."

"Ura, I know you missed him, but he's not the same Gaara as before," Kankurou explained as he stood up to shut the curtains so she couldn't look at Gaara anymore, "He even threatens me and Temari and has tried to kill us several times before. You can't change him, we've tried everything."

"It's because you two are his blood family," Ura stood up as she crossed her arms over her chest, "You see… A family blood love is different than…"

Kankurou watched as a small blush tinted Ura's cheeks and his own rage began to fuel. What was she saying? Well, he knew…but he didn't want to believe it. Ura turned her gaze over to Kankurou with a soft smile, "It's different than the love I feel for Gaara."