Rivalry Begins! Gaara vs. Ryushin!

The next day was absolute torture for me. Ryushin followed me wherever I went. And, to add to the trouble, he kept making confusing moves, like holding me close and kissing me and making refrence to his love for me occaisionally. My heart never rested. I was so tired. Even when I tried to send him away by hanging around Gaara, but that only seemed to make things worse!

Ryushin was constantly picking a fight with him, and trying to best him at even the tiniest thing. The one day that Gaara seemed to be free of his Kazekage duties and Ryushin had to appear everywhere. This guy was really becoming annoying.

"So, Gaara, why don't all of us hit the town before we leave? It will be the last time that all of us will get together like this? What do you say?"

Gaara merely stared at me with his stoic expression, and I could feel a "no" coming, so then I turned on the blonde-headed boy. "Hey, Naruto! Why don't you come along! I'm sure you and Gaara want to have some fun together!"

Gaara looked towards us and Naruto smiled that goofy smile of his. "Of course! This sounds like fun!"

The Kazekage turned away a little. "I guess I might as well go, then. I'm sure the people may want to see their kage around sometimes."

I smiled as my trick worked. But, as usual, Ryushin had to appear and ruin everything. "The only 'people' that want to 'see their kage' are the fine young ladies of Suna. Eh? Am I right, Gaara? You stud!" He elbowed him and raised his eyebrows, in that 'hint hint' sort of way. Gaara just ignored him and walked away so that he wouldn't be elbowed anymore. I was furious. I didn't want to be reminded of the fact that Gaara had plenty of fangirls.

"RYYUUUSSHHIIIN!!" I growled at him. "Don't be so rude to the Kazekage!"

Ryushin laughed, and behind his carefree smile I could see he had a sly look around him. "Sorry, sorry! I was just being friendly!"

The others kinda looked at each other with a 'what the heck's up with him' look on their faces.

That night, we did go out like I proposed. I was planning on making this a date, since not many others would be preoccupied with Gaara, but, as expected Ryu kept between us the whole time. First, we went down Main Street, to check out all the neat shops and tourist attractions, but any time I would try to point something out to Gaara, Ryu would step in and say "Oh, that's so cool!"

When I wanted to buy something, Ryushin would always buy it for me, before I could even give the hint to Gaara. And when we fished for goldfish at one of the booths, Ryushin took the last rod, so that Gaara couldn't. But the worst time was when we stopped at a resteraunt for dinner. Ryu sat in between Gaara and I, as expected, and wouldn't stop glaring at him the whole time. I thought that that was all he would do, until the waiter brought us the bowls of rice. Then Lee suggested a rice eating contest. That's when I sighed and let my head fall onto the table. Naruto gladly took up the challenge, and when that happened Gaara said that it might be interesting. That's when Ryushin joined with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Gaara, this time, you're going down!" He declared at him, pointing his chopsticks accusingly at Gaara.

Although the young Kazekage didn't show any emotion on his face, a little strip of sand rose into the air and crushed his chopsticks.

This aggrivated Ryu. He slammed his hand on the table. "All, right, Kazekage-sama! You're on! Let's make a bet! Winner gets a kiss from Sarafu!"

I lifted my head in shock as my heart sank. Oh, dear lord! Please let Gaara win! The others looked from me to the two boys with interest. Kakashi giggled with his head hiding behind his book, and Gai seemed pumped. "Alright! A lively competition between four beautiful youths! Let springtime begin!" He was standing, poised, on the table.

Ten Ten pulled him down. "Sensei, what in the world are you talking about?"

Neji smiled, amused. Apparantly, my love life had become his TV drama.

"I'm cursed," I mumbled into the table as Gai declared the competition begun.

The competition was more like two battles. Lee versus Naruto, who won against him, and Ryushin versus Gaara, who were shoveling rice into their mouths like it would be the last thing they would ever get to eat. Eventually, Naruto gave way, but the two kept going. It was quite amazing really. Their shirts kept expanding, but neither of them slowed their pace. They were up to 30 bowls when finally, they both collapsed, and barfed onto the floor next them. (Since Ryu was sitting in the middle, he turned over his chair and puked.) They then both groaned and dropped their heads onto the table. We all stared at them for a second before Ten Ten asked the much asked the question. "So. . .who won?"

It was Kakashi's turn to speak up this time. "Well, I think since both of them returned about as much rice as they ate, they both lose by default. The winner is Naruto." He then smiled at me from over his book. "Pucker up."

"Like hell, you perverted sensei!" I yelled at him. Then looked at Naruto pleadingly. He just shrugged and said, "Ah, well, could I trade my prize for a kiss from Sakura?"

"LIKE HELL, YOU PERVERTED IDIOT!!" She yelled from the far end of the table and smashed Naruto's head in.

I sighed, relieved. Neji smiled at me. "Looks like you got out of that one."

I pouted at him, glaring with rosy cheeks. "Shut up! You just wait till Ten Ten challenges me for something much worse!"

Ten Ten's face went red. "W-why would I-?"

I laughed and so did the others. Then the waiter came back with the rest of our meal.

"Uggghh! No more food!" Ryushin and Gaara groaned simultaneously.

I giggled. "Gaara looks so cute when he's full of rice!"

I couldn't see Gaara's reaction because Ryushins jealous expression blocked my veiw. "So, does that mean he's ugly when he's not full of rice?"

I punched him in the head, to knock him out of the way so I could see Gaara. His head was turned away a little, and he wasn't looking at me. He had the same stoic expression on his face, but his cheeks were red. I smiled, but frowned as Ryushin came back into the picture.

The day had finally ended by the time we hefted ourselves out of the resteraunt. We all were stuffed, and were tired. (And Gai-sensei was broke now.) We said our good-byes and everyone went their seperate ways. Except, for me, Gaara, and Ryushin. We were making our way towards the hospital when I rose up the question.

"Hey, Gaara. Now that you no longer have the Shukaku inside you, does that mean you can sleep?"

"I'm not sure," Gaara answered truthfully as we turned the corner of the street. "I've tried to, but I'm still too scared to actually close my eyes."

I looked at him with pity. "Have you tried forcing yourself to sleep? Maybe, after you do it a couple of times, your body will get used to sleeping at a certain time."

"I guess."

Gaara was looking away. Ryushin came up to us with a mischevious smile. "Every night when Sarafu and I are together we never get any sleep." He smiled even wider to show his lude refrence. I smacked him in the face and told him to shut up. Then, I gently grabbed Gaara's hand and quietly said, "If you'd like, I'll stay with you until you fall asleep."

Ryushin grabbed my other arm and pulled me into an embrace, with my back facing him. "He doesn't need you to baby him, Sarafu. I'm sure the Kazekage will manage fine, won't you?"

I felt a tense atmosphere as Ryushin glared at Gaara. Gaara's forehead wrinkled and his lips formed into a frown. "Then, is she to spend the night with you?"

Ryushin smiled tensly. And used one hand to hold my cheek and pressed his right cheek against my left. "That's exactly the point, my dear kage."

Gaara didn't move. I had just realized that we hadn't been moving for a while. Then, a pile of sand pushed Ryu's hand away from me. "You have no right to even touch her!" He was frowning deeply now, and the sand pushed Ryu back, and pushed his arms away from me so that I was out of his grip. Ryu, frowned deeply and moved away from the sand, his hand was now in the position of a hand seal.

"What do you care? You two weren't meant to be, remember? You wanted her to find someone else, and now she has. What reason do you have to even look her way?"

Gaara took a step forward. "I won't give her to someone like you. Just because I don't want her with me doesn't mean I don't care about her. I'll make sure she has a happy life before I disappear from it."

An arm of sand came up, and dragged me back to him. I looked over at Ryu to see what his reaction would be. He was growling now. Such searing hate was directed at Gaara. "Her life would be happy if you actually would disappear! Why torture her with the thought of 'I do love you' and push her away! Don't say that she tortures you when you keep leading her on!"

Gaara was still. Everything was still. I had to admit; Ryu was right. Gaara must've realized this too, for the sand around me dropped to the ground. Ryu was making his way towards me, when he was stopped by a wall of sand. "Ryushin, you have a valid point. So, I shall correct my mistake. I will not keeping pushing Sarafu away! Since we both love each other, then there is no reason for us to be apart. Sarafu, I will take you up on your offer." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me along with him. I heard Ryushin banging on the Sand wall. I didn't like the way things were going. I squirmed out of Gaara's grasp.

"Stop it!" I yelled at them both. "Stop pushing and pulling me! I can't take it! You two are driving me nuts! Quit playing with me! I don't care if you both love me, but if this keeps up, I'm gonna hate both of you! Good Night!"

Then I ran away. I just had to get away from those two. The air was so tense. And I. . .to them, I was just a prize. Some little treasure to fight over. I couldn't take it. Neither of them thought about what I wanted. Who I wanted to love. I really was becoming aggrivated with those two. I was beginning to wish I had never made friends with Ryushin. Ever.

...to be continued.