Sarafu vs. Pajama Pants

I didn't waste any time. I formed the seals: Sheep, Ox, Dragon, Monkey, Tiger, Rat and Ram. "Invisible Jutsu!" I felt my body become clear. I looked down at my hand, but didn't see it. Good. This technique used to wear me out, but maybe I'll last a bit more. I heard Hinako's voice, "Sharingan." She must be trying to see me. She better not tell him where I am. Pajama Pants pulled the string, and the bandages flew off of what appeared to be a puppet. I quitely tip-toed behind him and took out a kunai knife. I was about to strike when suddenly, I was struck in the back. I gasped and turned around in surprise. It was his puppet. One of its hands had turned into a knife and had stabbed me. That wasn't the most shocking thing. How could he see me?

Pajama Pants moved his fingers and the other arm showed a series of knives. It then proceeded to sling towards me, but I jumped out of the way. While in the air, I undid the jutsu, and landed on my feet, a few meters away. There was no need to sustain the technique if I could be seen. But how was he able to see me? I glanced at the ground and had to smack myself on the head. IDIOT! Your footprints in the sand.

I had no time to hang around cause Pajama Pants sent his puppet towards me. I leaped to the left. The puppet opened its mouth and poisonous gas spewed out. I held my breath and jumped away. Luckily I didn't inhale anything. When I was out of reach, I whipped out a scroll and opened it. I bit my thumb and wiped some of my blood on the writing. I formed the summoning selas and called out, "Twin Dragon Swords!" And out popped two swords of beautiful craftsmanship. They had jagged ends and there was a bell attached to a string at the the end of the handles. The only difference was, that one of them had a silver bell, and the other gold. I held them expertly and showed them to Pajama Pants.

"Do you know what these are?" I smirked.

He looked at me with an annoyed expression on his face. "I don't know and I don't care."

I ignored his remark and chuckled. "These are the legendary Twin Dragon Swords, created from the Scales of the previous Moon Dragon, my great grandmother. This one-" I lifted the one with the silver bell "is called Death, and this one-" I showed him the one with the golden bell "is called Life. You'll see why." I rushed toward him and made a swipe with Life. He blocked it with his puppet and jumped back. I stood there and pointed at his puppet. There, on the puppet's chest, were flowers and grass growing out of the cut that was made by my sword.

"Now, just imagine what Death will do," I grinned. He replied me with a "Tch!" and I again rushed toward him. This time, he made both him and his puppet jump out of the way. A wise decision, but he wasn't fast enough. I lept into the air after them, and sliced off his puppet's leg. The wooden leg fell to the ground and crumbled into ash. And so did the rest of his leg area as the spreading disease turned half of its body into ash. "Looks like you'll need something a bit tougher than wood."

He glared at me and I grinned back. I hope Gaara was watching this. Heck, I hoped everyone was watching this, except for Konkichii. He would severely chastise me for this. The Twin Dragons were an unstoppable force, but they came with a price. I just couldn't afford to lose to this guy. Speaking of this guy, Pajama Pants cried out, "Karasu!" and his puppet flew towards me. So his puppet's name was Karasu. Since its a puppet, I couldn't do that technique.

I began to feel very tired. The effects of the Swords were beginning to show. I'd need to finish this quickly. I threw the sword, Death, towards him, and he again blocked it with Karasu. While that was happening I stabbed the ground with Life and trees and brush began to grow and the formed a circle around Pajama Pants. I moved Life to the right while it was still in the ground and vines shot out from the tree. They wrapped themselves around Pajama Pants. One of the vines wrapped around his throat and began to choke him. He moved his fingers and sent for Karasu to come help him.

"Oh, no you don't!" I ran over, and grabbed Death and sliced Karasu in half, just before he could make it. Karasu turned into a pile of ash and was blown away by the wind. I continued to choke Pajama Pants and when he finally fainted, I let him go, and killed the trees with Death. I took out another scroll and sealed the Swords back into them. When I finished, I nearly fell down. That technique wasted a lot of chakra. That was such a stupid thing to do. Now I would have to sacrifice something to the Twin Dragon Swords. Everyone, sensing that the battle was over, came up to me. Temari picked up Pajama Pants. But, someone I did not recognize came up to me and said, "Good Job. The next task will start later. You need to rest. You've obviously used up a lot of chakra." This person had spiky red hair, and was a little creepy looking, but attractive at the same time. And he carried around this gourd on his back.

I turned to him and said, "Who are you?"

"Sarafu are you okay?" Hinako asked me with some hopefulness in her voice. "Did you get hit in the head or something?"

"No, of course not, Hinako, why would you think that? And who is this red haired guy?"

Why was everyone staring at me like that? I could remember everything perfectly, but this guy really didn't ring a bell.

Then I heard Lee's voice yelling, "Hinako are you and Sarafu all right?"

"Yeah we are all fine, for the most part."

Lee, Tenten, Neji, and Gai-sensei all came, running up. Oh, CRAP! I just remembered that I wasn't supposed to leave. GAI WAS GONNA KILL ME!

Hinako turned to the red head and said, " Please watch over her for the time being, Gaara, while I talk with Gai-sensei about what must be done, okay?" He nodded and stayed by my side. I looked up and stared at him.

"What?"

"Its obvious to tell that I sacrificed my memories of you to summon the swords, but that's not it."

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't just take the memories of any one,...it takes the memories of the thing you cherish most."

His eyes widened a little and then he went back to his expresionless face. I blushed a little. I must have really liked this guy, to go all out for him. Hinako was talking to Gai for a very long time. I wondered what they were talking about? "Oh, yeah!" I exclaimed in realization. "Gaara-san, was it? What do you want for Christmas?"

"Huh?"

"Well, Christmas is coming up, and since I don't remember anything about you, I kinda need help."

"...Well, I could use a new pair of sandals..."

"Alright! Its done!" I smiled at him, and his hard face began to lighten up a little. This guy wasn't so bad after all. A little boring, but at least he was hott.

Hinako came back and she grabbed me by the hand, while saying, "Sorry, Gaara-san, but I will be taking her back to Konoha to get her checked out by Tsuanade-sama, so see you around."

"What? Checked out? There's nothing wrong with me?"

"That, my freind," Hinako said, "is where you are seriously wrong." She helped me up on a dragon, which I assumed she summoned, and hopped on herself. She then yelled "Hold on tight, everybody. This will be a bumpy ride!" and we flew off to Konoha. It took us about a day to get there, but we made it in good time.

When we arrived at Konoha, they put me in the hospital. Why does everyone think I'm sick? After a while, Tsunade-sama came into my room to check up on me. She did some psychological tests and checked out the rest of me. She then reported to her assistant, Shizune, "Well, besides severe fatigue, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her. As for her memories, I don't know of any way to get them back." She then poked my fore-head with her finger. "Never do something so reckless again. And if I find this Gaara, I'm gonna make sure he won't be able to walk straight ever again."

I got worried. "Please don't punish him! Although, from what everyone tells me, he did order me to fight the Pajama Pants, I think he was just trying to test me! I don't think he knew I would go that far! Its not his fault! I probably could've beaten Kankurou without the Twin Dragon Swords, but I wanted to show off! Please don't hurt him, Tsunade-sama!"

She sighed. "Fine, but next time, get some backbone and don't do what he says. You are free to leave the hospital now." She began to walk out of the room, but stopped when I said, "umm.."

"What is it?"

"Well, where am I gonna go now? I don't have a village anymore, and my only known living relative is a psycho dragon lady."

"Well, that is a problem. I don't suppose you have your paperwork with you?"

I shook my head.

"Well, I guess you can become a Konoha ninja...but you can't be a chuunin anymore."

"WHAT! WHY NOT!"

"WE as the Village of Konoha, don't recognize you as a chuunin without your paperwork. I can make you a genin, but you'll have to pass the chuunin exam."

"But it was so hard to pass..."

"Well, at least you have some experience. You can make a new team with Hinako and I'll see if we can find someone else, to make it a three-man team."

"Ah! What about Jin? He doesn't have a home, either! Maybe he can join us!"

"But he's not a ninja. He'll have to go through the Acadmey first."

"But if he passes, he can join us?"

"I don't see why not."

"Yatta! I'm gonna train the heck out of him."

"Why do you want him to be on your team so much?"

I blushed. "Well, I'm very shy around strangers, and I would feel akward with someone else."

Tsunade-sama laughed at me and then said, "Well, you are a weird one. Almost like Naruto. But as for a place to stay, you'll have to ask Hinako, or TenTen if they can let you spend the night, until we can get things situated."

"Yes! Oh, and thank you for all your help, Tsunade-sama!"

"Yeah, whatever. Bye." She then left the hospital room.

After I got dressed, I walked around the village trying to find Hinako, or TenTen. I saw Neji, and I asked him, but he said that he didn't know where they were. Later, I saw Gai-sensei, and he told me that he just saw Hinako walk out of the Hokage-sama's office not too long ago. I went over there, and searched around the area, and finally found her coming out of a book store. "Hey, Hinako!"

"Ah, Sarafu? What are you doing out of the hospital?"

"Why the heck was I in there in the first place! There was nothing wrong with me!"

"Sorry, sorry, but it never hurts to be careful."

"Anyway, I was wondering if I could spend the night at your place until Tsunade-sama finds a place for me to stay?"

"Uh, sure, but I'm Christmas shopping right now."

"Really? Then, can I shop with you?"

"Sure, but do you have any money?"

I froze, and checked my back pocket. My wallet was there, but there was barely anything. How the heck was I supposed to buy Gaara sandals with this much money? Hinako laughed and said, "Looks like you're gonna have to find a job. Try doing some missions. You get money from those."

"But, technically, I'm not a Konoha ninja yet. Tsunade-sama told me to come back tomorrow to fill out the paperwork."

"Well, until then, start asking around for odd jobs. I'd give you one myself, but I need this money to shop."

I sighed. "Thanks anyway. See you later."

"Alright, oh, by the way, my house is by the Academy. Just ask for directions, and you'll find it. See you tonight!"

"Yeah, See you tonight."

I walked off, sulking. No jobs until tomorrow? But I needed to buy Christmas presents now. It was the tenth, and Christmas was only fifteen days away. I asked around, but everyone was just like Hinako. They needed their money for presents too. I eventually just ended up walking around the city, when I saw a girl come out of a store, trip and fall. All her things went flying out of her hands. I quickly ran and grabbed them, just before they hit the ground. I helped her back up and she gave me a quiet "Thank you."

"No problem," I said. "But this is a lot of stuff. Do you want me to help carry it for you?"

"Oh, no, you don't have to-"

"Nah, I don't have anything to do right now, and I'm new around these parts, and you can show me around."

"Ah, thank you again."

"By the way, my name's Kichino Sarafu."

"uh, my name is Hyuuga Hinata."

"Hyuuga? Are you related to Neji-san?"

"You know Neji-niisan? Yes, he's my cousin. He's from the Branch family, and I'm from the Head family. Our fathers were brothers."

I held her bags and we began to walk around.

"So, you two must get along well, then?"

"Well, we do now."

"Now?"

"Umm, its nothing..."

"Okay, its none of my busniess."

I helped her shop the rest of the day, and then headed over to Hinako's place. I found out that she lived in an apartment complex. I asked the clerk at the desk for her room number and went up there. I knocked on the door and Hinako answered.

...to be contionued.