No Opposible Thumbs

Gaara stared at the parrot as it blinked at him, turning its head to the side, curiously.

"Did that parrot just. . .call your name?" Ryu gaped.

Gaara nodded in surprise.

"How?"

Gaara simply shrugged, to surprised to speak. The parrot gave what seemed to be a tortured laugh. "Anh! Gaara! Funny! Anh!"

"I think I'm dreaming," Ryu decided, turning away and pinching himself.

"Well, its not totally unbelievable. Parrots can mimick the English language," Gaara presented an hypothesis, back to his calm demeanor. "Someone must've said my name and its merely coincidence that its here."

"A parrot? In the desert?"

"Anh! No coincendence! No such thing! Anh!"

"Well, you heard him," Ryu laughed.

"Her," the parrot whistled angrily.

"Ok, explain that boy-genius," Ryu argued with Gaara. "Sure it can mimick the English language, but not talk to people!"

". . ."

The parrot hopped off the window sill and flew briefly to Gaara's desk, searching for something. Soon, it found a pen and began to scribble onto a piece of paper. Well, it looked like scribbles to Ryu. The handwritting was terrible, but then again, the bird was writing with its beak. Gaara and Ryu watched intently, and once they were able to read the hardly legible scratches, they each sharply intook some air, staring at the parrot in awe. The paper said:

I'm sure Ryu has told you about my 'death'. I was going to the Other World when I met up with the spirit of this dead bird who died of drowning itself, the idiot. Don't worry, I asked for permission first, so I took over its body. I sure showed that over-grown lizard, huh? Well, if you can help me with getting my body back, or at least a better one than this, then please feel free to do so.

-Sarafu

Gaara seemed to be on the verge of tears, and Ryu was crying. "You look like. . .-sniff-such a dork. . .in bird form."

The bird didn't reply, and it was hard to tell what she felt, because of her parrot face. She blinked a few times, and tilted her head to the side. "Idiot," was all it said. The parrot flew from the desk and onto Gaara's shoulder. "I hope this doesn't-anh!-affect our relationship, Gaara. Though, I don't see how a bird and a human could have-"

"You've got a sick mind, you know that?"

"No, just a whole lot of hormones. whistle Say once I get a human body, you wanna-"

"I'M STILL HERE, YOU KNOW!!" Ryu screamed, his face red.

"Then, stop being here," the parrot Sarafu cawed angrily at him. "And then you won't have to listen to us."

Ryu growled, steaming. "Have you forgotten what I've told you?! There's no way I'm leaving you two alone, even if you are a parrot!"

At this, Gaara flicked his eyes toward Ryu. Ryu was a little scared by the ferocity in his eyes, but held his ground. There was nothing to hide. Gaara already knew where he stood.

"So. . ." Sarafu broke the silence, hopping off Gaara's shoulder and onto his desk. "You said that Akatsuki plans to start a war between the ninja villages. That makes sense. Anh! Well, if that's the case, they'll more than likely start with an unstable country."

"The Sound?" Ryu suggested.

"No. They will follow with the war. No. The Rain Village. It is a small village, not the smallest, but they are hot-headed little things. Anh! They're always looking for a way to expand. Woohoo! Akatsuki will probably persuade them into invading the smaller Grass Village."

"But Konoha has a treaty with the Grass Village. Surely, they will come to their aid."

"Which is what Akatsuki is hoping to do. This is where Sound comes in. And the Mist Village. Konoha's two greatest enemies. And then, the Waterfall village is next, and then the Cloud Village is next. Then, poor isolated Water Village is easily overthrown."

"But wait, isn't Sound under Orochimaru's control, not the Akatsuki's?" Gaara interrupted me.

"All the more reason it should work. Although the two are at ends, Orochimaru cannot pass up this chance. In theory, this war works for everyone's advantage. Each Village has the chance to seize the opportunity to gain control over all the Countries. Ninjas can settle old grudges, expand their territory, even have a little 'fun'. This war is to bring out the evil, the beast, in everyone. I am an example of that."

It was silent for a while, as Sarafu's grim words settled over the quiet office. Then Gaara spoke. "How do you know all this? This is a pretty big guess."

"Not a guess, my dear. While in my sort of 'limbo' between the living and the dead, I was exposed to a series of vast souls. And their knowledge came with them. One in particular happened to be an unfortunate fellow who had too much curiosity for his own good. He found out about Akatsuki's plans. The ironic part is, they hoped to silence him by murder, but only because of his death, was I able to achieve this information. It seems that this has only done me good. I'm rid of the Moon Dragon, and I've aquired a vast amount of knowledge. The only draw-back," Sarafu looked down at her multi-colored feathered body-"is that I'm no longer human."

"No, you're not human," Ryu said coldly, with a frown, but then he smiled at Sarafu. "But you're still you."

"Such over-used words," Sarafu spoke, but couldn't deny that it made her feel better.

Gaara intervened their moment of happiness with a seroius question. "So, now that we know, what is your plan to stop it?"

Sarafu turned to Gaara, seriously. "I'm not sure if we can stop it. The only idea that I can suggest is to tell the villages about Akatsuki's plan, but this might ignite the war anyway. Knowing that your neighbor could be plotting against you doesn't leave you content. No, the only thing we can do is to win the war. The purpose of this war is to dissolve the countries. To beat Akatsuki, we must unite the Ninja Villages together! Gaara, I can assume Konoha has Suna's support?"

Gaara cracked a smile, which tickled and frightened Sarafu at the same time. He was just too emo to smile. "Of course."

"Then, we must send the message to all the countries! War has begun! Oh, and Ryu. . .what about the Sora citizens? Did you settle them down onto Earth while I was gone?"

Ryu was startled by this question and began to sweat with worry. He had completely forgotten about them. "Uh, no. I kind of. . .just. . .left them there."

"WHAT?!"

...to be continued.