A/N: Ok, I find this chapter a little pointless, but it was needed to explain the next upcoming chapter. And I threw Gaara way out of whack, but please enjoy reading anywho.

Return to the Sand Village! Moping Isn't Fun!

When I awoke, I was lying on a not too comfortable tatami mat. Next to me was Hinako. She was sleeping so quietly, and so softly I almost thought she was dead. I smiled slightly. She may have tried to kill me, but I gained a slight respect for her. I got up and noticed that someone had dressed me in new clothes. I was hoping it was TenTen. I looked around and found it strange to find myself in a room. Wasn't I just on Mt. Hokkaido? That's right! The village! I ran outside and stopped dead in my tracks. There, in front of my eyes, was my village, burned to the ground.

I felt a slight pang in my side and was about to cry. No! Hold them in! I musn't cry! That would mean I'm weak! I recollected myself and saw Neji and Lee walking towards me from the other end of the village, carrying pieces of lumber, for a fire, I would presume. When they noticed me standing there, their face got a gloomy expression. "Sarafu..." Lee said. But my awkward smile stopped him.

"Don't worry, Lee," I said with a strained smile. "I'm alright! The village wouldn't have lasted long anyway, living on top of a mountain like that. We were soft people."

He gave me such a look of pity. But I didn't want his pity.

I took a deep breath and looked up at the morning sun. "In fact, I'm not really all too bothered by the fact that my village was just destroyed, and that I'm the only one left. I was alone to begin with." Then my smile faded. "What really angers me is the fact that my mom was the one who destroyed it. From the looks of it, she is completely the Moon Dragon now. Her concious no longer exists."

Lee and Neji looked at me with troubled looks on their faces. I could feel my anger rise. That stupid mother of mine. One day, she will pay for all that she's done. I looked at them with a calm smile on my face, and then walked away. It was amazing that that little house had survived the attack. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and knocked into a burnt gourd. Gourd! That's right! Gaara! I hadn't seen him in so long! And now that I had no village, maybe I could get the Village of the Sand to take me in, and then I would have plenty of time to play with Gaara! Yes!

I walked back to the nearly burned house to tell Gai and the others. I found Hinako awake. I smiled at her and held out my hand saying, "That was a good fight. I was not disappointed." She looked at me, and then shook my hand. I hoped we could be friends after this. TenTen smiled and said, "I'm glad those two are getting along."

Gai walked into the room. "Umm, Gai," I asked him, trying to be polite. "Would it be alright if we stopped by the Sand Village for a second?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

I stared at him in surprise. "Why not?"

"Because you are Konoha's responsibility now. We have to head straight back!"

"But-"

"No! The mission was a failure enough."

I tried to protest more, but he wouldn't have it. So I pouted. We traveled back to Konoha, but when we were closest to the Country of Wind, I ran off. I wouldn't let them control my life now. I was finally free, and I wanted to see Gaara. Now, I had nothing to hold me back. I ran away in the middle of the night, making sure everyone was asleep, but apparantly I didn't check well enough, because Jin and Hinako followed me. When we were quite a good distance away, they showed themselves and Hinako said, "So you are going to go see Gaara go after all."

"Hinako! What are you doing here? I thought you were asleep, and you too Jin!"

"We weren't asleep. I thought you would try to run away, so I only pretended to be asleep."

"Are you gonna stop me?"

"No, I'd like to see this Gaara person. From what I've heard, I find it odd that you like him at all."

"Hey, what do you know about him!"

"And," Jin stepped in, "What do you know about him."

I couldn't answer. The truth was, not a lot. I only met him once, and the only thing I really fell in love with was that icy cold stare. Ah! It still sends shivers of joy down my spine! I really knew nothing about him. But that didn't make me anymore deppressed. In fact, it made me even more determined to see him, and learn more about him. Even if he couldn't return my feelings, at least we could be friends.

The wind blew and my now long hair flew into my face. It hadn't dawned on me till now, that I had probably better cut my hair, cause he might not recognize me if I didn't. But I liked the long hair, it was a sign of my new life. So, I took out my kunai knife and cut my hair, but not too short. I took a ribbon out of my pocket and tied my hair into a ponytail. My hair was just long enough that it all fit into the ponytail, but short enough, that the ends stuck out, creating a spiky look. I liked it. I smiled at my new freinds.

"Well, lets go."

They nodded and we left.

In a days run, we made it to the Village of the Sand. I was surprised that Jin could keep up with our pace. "You know," I said to him, when we arrived. "You're a really tough kid." He smiled at me while breathing heavily.

We walked around for a while and then Hinako said to me annoyingly, "You don't know where he is, do you?"

I smiled nervously. "O-of course. I just needed a cool down walk."

She gave me a glare. And then I answered, "No, I don't." But, my luck was amazing and Gaara and his team walked in from outside the village. They must have been out on a mission. I ran up to him, and before I could stop myself, I jumped towards him and gave him a hug. I know this sounds corny, but I was so over-joyed at seeing him, that I couldn't help myself. Something about the way he looked gave me such a relieved feeling. Everyone stared at us in stunned silence, even Gaara.

"Why are you crying?" he asked in a soft tone. It was true. The tears I had been holding in this whole time, suddenly found their way out. I hid my face in his clothes. I was embarassed about my conduct.

"Will you let go of me?" he asked. It took me a while, but I did let him go eventually. I tried to hide my face. He led me aside from the others. "What happened?" he asked. He was acting totally different from before. Why was he being nice to me all of the sudden? I didn't care. I liked nice, better than trying to kill you. So, I told him. His face remained unchanged the whole time. When I had finished, he did what I think was supposed to be a smile but it kinda creeped me out, and he said, "Are you lonely?"

I thought long and hard. I asnwered him truthfully. "Actually, no. I'm not lonely. Not a bit. I have freinds now, whereas I didn't have freinds before."

"Then why did you cry?"

"Because my mom was the one who did it."

"Well, then, you know your problem now. You need to sort things out with your mom, if you can. I've never talked to a dragon before, but you do realize, that you'll probably have to fight her again, one day?"

"Yes."

"Well, then, I should say you are fine. You're really a strong person to just cry a little after that."

My eyes got huge and a grin spread across my face. "REEEEAALLLLLYYYY? YES!" I jumped up and down. I felt a lot better now. "Thanks Gaara!"

Then I pointed my finger at him. "BUT YOU ARE STILL MY RIVAL! I DON'T WANT TO OWE YOU SOMETHING, SO WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

He looked at me quizically. "I can have anything?"

"No, not anything, but within bounds of what I think fair."

"Alright, then spend the day with me."

I blushed. "Wha-what? D-do you mean, l-like a d-date?"

"No, I want you to be my servant for a day."

My red cheeks got even redder. "WHAT! I've got to be a slave AGAIN!"

"Again?"

I turned away. Dammit! This guy is not nice at all. All he did was talk to me. Jerk! That was asking too much. But!, a voice in side my head said, This would be a great chance to get to know Gaara. If you are his servant, then that means you'll be with him everywhere!

You do have a point there. I could learn all his weaknesses and flaws.

Or his likes.

Yeah, those too, but mainly his weaknesses. And then, after that, I could challenge him to a duel of some sort.

Like what?

I'll figure that out when the time comes.

"You know, Sarafu," Hinako said. "You really shouldn't talk to yourself like that. It scares people."

I was awakened. I cleared my throat. "Ugh-egh! Yeah, uhh, Gaara, as my rival, and only that, I agree to your terms, and will be your servent until the end of today!"

"Alright, first order of busniess, carry my gourd, and go wash it. It looks dirty."

I should say so. Its made of sand! He took off his gourd, that was strapped around his back and he handed it to me. I grabbed it, but almost dropped it, because it was so dang heavy!

"You can go wash it off, at that well over there."

He pointed, but I saw no well. "What well?"

He pointed again, and then I saw it. I heaved the gourd over there and then looked into the well. "AAAYEEEEE! You expect me to use this!"

"Yes."

"But its barely got any water in it, and there's no pail to draw it out with!"

"Looks like you'll have to figure it out. I'll come back in an hour to pick up my gourd. I expect it to be spotless."

"How the hell am I supposed to wash this? Its made of sand!"

"Figure it out."

He walked off, and Temari and Pajama Pants followed him. Hinako and Jin walked over to me. I pleaded them for help but they said, "Uh-un. This is your problem. You get yourelf out of it."

I glared at them and looked at the gourd. I tried dusting the sand off of it, but that was useless.

Later on, "It took me about 45 minutes, but I think I've got it."

"What are you talking about?" Jin said. "It looks just the same as before. You did nothing, but hover around it."

"Well, to begin, it wasn't dirty to begin with! Its made completely out of sand, so what could make it dirty? Nothing!"

"You're an idiot. I don't think that's it."

"What do you know?"

"A lot more than you obviously."

"Grr."

I spent my last few minutes arguing with Jin, when Gaara appeared. "Ah! Gaara! Isn't it clean?"

"No. You did nothing to it. Were you just laying about this whole time?"

Jin and Hinako answered at the same time, "Yes."

Gaara looked at them. "Who are you?"

I jumped up from my pool of tears. "Oh, yeah! I haven't introduced you guys yet. This is Uchiha Hinako and Jin. Just Jin. They're my freinds. If you can call them that. Hinako tried to chop my head off, and they both drove me insane."

"Well, if you ask me," Jin said, "What's insane is your outfit. I mean, come one, girl, do you want to look like a boy. Its totally unappealing. You'll never attract guys like that."

I shoved my elbow into his head. "What did you say, you little brat! Have you not listened to anything I've said these past few days!"

"Hey! That hurt!"

Pajama Pants chuckled. "Heh. If you ask me, you're both brats."

I turned on him with righteous fury. "What did you say?"

Gaara ignored our little squabble and handed a bundle of brown cloth.

"What's this?" I asked him as I took it and unfolded it.

"Your costume for the next assignment. The Academy is supposed to have a jounin speak to them today, but none are available, so they picked us, but we don't feel like doing it, so you have to, and you'll be wearing this."

I looked at the costume. "WHY THE HELL DO I HAVE TO WEAR THIS!"

Gaara looked at me with a serious face that didn't fit his words. "Because it'll be entertaining."

I smoldered, but gave in. I changed in a nearby store's bathroom, and when I came out, everyone laughed at me. I was in a giant raccoon outfit, with a little pink bow on the ear, and it had a ninja jacket on. I wanted to kill myself.

Gaara wasn't smiling however. He still had that same poker face on the whole time. "Oh, and you'll be referring to yourself as Rina the raccoon from now on," he said to me in that deep voice of his.

I nodded glumly and followed him to the Academy.The kids there were devils from below. They laughed at me, and didn't even listen to anything I said. They even thew some of their lunch at me, so that the costume got dirty, and then Gaara made me clean it!

But that was only the beginning. Gaara made me clean his clothes, clean his apartment, cook him dinner, four times because he wasn't pleased each time, then he made me do the dishes, massage his feet, buff Kankurou's puppets, clean Temari's fan, sharpen their kunai's and he even made me save a kitten that got stuck in a tree, at Temari's request.

By the end of the day, I was bushed! But Gaara wasn't finished.

"Next assignment," Gaara spoke out. "Defeat Kankurou. "

I looked at him. "What did you say? Defeat Pajama Pants?"

"Yes. He's been itching for a fight, and its been getting on my nerves lately."

I smiled and cracked my knuckles. "I've been waiting a long time for this moment."

Pajama Pants glared at me. He took the thing off his back and set it down. I didn't exactly know what it was, because it was bandaged up, and only a puff of brown hair poked out from the top. "I've been waiting to kick your ass too."

"Just you watch, Gaara, I'll show you that I'm worthy of being your rival."

...to be continued.