Katara stretched, Neji was already awake. She began to shake Soma, to wake her. "Hmmm… I don't want any muffins…" Soma groaned sleepily. "What the deuce? Get up!" Katara snapped in her ear. "WHA! I'm up I'm up!" Soma said, sitting up and looking around.

"Hmm… I wonder how long it took before this happened?" Troah asked, fishing through what was left of their stuff. Almost everything was stolen, and Naruto had slept through it. "Fool," Katara and Neji muttered under their breaths. "It's a good thing I had the letter or we'd be in trouble," Neji said, sighing.

Troah nudged Naruto with his foot. "Yes I would like more Ramen… why thank you…" Naruto responded, in the same state as Soma was. "Why is everyone talking in their sleep?" Katara asked, kicking Naruto. "WAH! What happened!?" Naruto asked, jumping to his feet. "You fell asleep," Troah said, blandly.

"I did?" Naruto asked. "Let's just go," Neji said, beginning to lead the way to Suna. "I agree," Soma said, smiling.

"Wow… It's just like in my dreams…" Soma said in amazement, as the group walked through the streets of Sunakagure two hours later. "It doesn't seem all that amazing… I'm disappointed," Katara muttered. "We need to hurry up and see the Kazekage as soon as possible" Neji said.

"Hey, that's Gaara right?" Troah asked as he turned to Naruto. Katara noticed Soma got excited when she heard that name. "Calm down Soma, you're acting like little a kid," Katara said harshly. "I don't wanna calm down, besides it's not like I'm gonna make him bake cookies with me, like you did with Neji," Soma said fully aware that Katara would reply to that remark.

"HEY!!! Those were good cookies," Neji said embarrassed, he didn't think anyone knew he did that with Katara… but why would she tell Soma? He sighed. "Or you know, Neji can respond first…" Soma said, turning around to walk backwards and to also look at Neji and Katara. The two of them just sighed with embarrassment. "There's nothing to worry about you two I'm sure they were great cookies," Naruto said, with encouragement.

"Hmmmmm… Neji and Katara baking cookies… now that's a sight," Troah said as he pictured the two precisely measuring every ingredient and following the book word for word. On the other hand he also imagined the two of them making a huge mess in the process. Now that Troah thought about it that's probably what happened.

"That is a sight Troah, I agree," Soma said as she began to laugh. "OH! Wouldn't it be cute if they had those little white chef hats on, and aprons that matched! You guys should become professional chefs," Soma said, continuing to imagine her sister and Neji becoming world class chefs and being famous… 'That would be a team' she thought.

"Can we please stop talking about this?" Neji said embarrassed as Katara just began to nod her head remarkably fast. It was clear she didn't want to discuss the matter further either. She usually got embarrassed when people openly talked about her and Neji, especially in front of her.

"Fiiiiiiiinneeee We'll stop, because I can te—" Soma began to say as she accidentally backed into someone. "Nice going hotshot," Katara said as she held out her hand so that Soma could stand up. "It's not my fault, people should watch where they're going," Soma complained. "You mean like you" Neji sighed.

The man that Soma had backed into turned around, it was Gaara. Soma immediately froze… her body completely tense. A gurgled squeak escaped her lips as she tried to talk. "Nice job Superstar, you bumped into the Kazekage himself," Troah joked. Soma squeaked again, mostly out of embarrassment.

"What are you doing here?" Gaara asked, in his usual manner. "The Hokage sent us," Katara said, moving Soma over a few inches. Beside Gaara stood his siblings, Kankuro and Temari. Kankuro blinked at Soma, "is… she gonna be okay?" he asked, with some uncertainty. "Yeah she's fine… just acting like an idiot," Katara sighed.

"I'm what!?" Soma asked angrily, snapping back to reality. "You mock me… I mock you," Katara said. "I didn't mock you… I thought it was cute," Soma said, truthfully. "See if I ever help you up again," Katara muttered.

"This is no concern of yours," Gaara said, "you should go home." "Listen... we didn't walk all this way just to go home," Troah growled, challengingly. "Gaara... we want to help you," Soma said, sincerely. "I... don't need your help," Gaara said, narrowing his eyes at Troah. "Gaara... I know about your run in with the Akatsuki before," Soma said, taking a deep breath. "Naruto told me... he said... he said... you almost died," she continued.

"Naruto had no right to tell you about that! Just leave alright!" Gaara snapped. "Soma's just trying to help! You have no right to yell at her like that! We... are not your ninja's so you shouldn't be trying to tell us what to do!" Troah snarled, jumping to Soma's defense. "You may not serve me but this is my village!" Gaara spat, in an equally challenging tone.

Katara stood by quietly, listening to the fight. She sighed, "Troah... Gaara has a point. This is his village, we have no right," she said. Troah, along with Neji, Naruto and Soma, looked at Katara in surprise. Was she... defending Gaara? But she hated him. "However... you should think about your village, Kazekage. What if you died? ...what would happen to them then? ...or worse ...if you failed..." Katara added.

"I really don't think we should be thinking about stuff like that before the fight," Soma said, shuddering. "For once… you maybe right, Soma," Katara said, she then looked at Gaara, "we're just here to help."

Gaara took a deep breath, "Kankuro… Temari… show them to the hotel and give them the details of what's going on," he ordered. He began to walk away when, "Gaara wait!" Soma called, running up to him. She tripped and fell a few feet in front of him.

'Fool…' Katara thought shaking her head slowly, but she couldn't help but smile at her sister.

Gaara actually smirked as he helped her up, "how is it… that you always trip in front of me?" he asked. "You're just bad luck," Soma mocked, smiling, "would you mind… if I joined you? "Not at all," Gaara answered.

"Hey Superstar… how are you going to get to the hotel?" Troah asked, hoping to stop her. "I'll get directions… don't worry about me," Soma responded.