New chapter! Yeah, I'm out of school as of June 1st! Remember to review, my readers, or else. -- Anyway, on with the story! Also, use the link at the bottom of the page to translate any unfamiliar words. If you can't find them, then oh well.

"Spoken words"

'Quote'

"Thoughts"

Little known Japanese term

Ai woke up in her room. As she got up, she nearly put on her school uniform, but instead dug through her closet. 'Aw crap. Nothing fit for training!' she screamed in her mind. Just then, she had an idea. 'Mom's closet!' She ran down the hallway, and continued into her parent's room. Wrenching open the closet door, she began digging into the very back. She occasionally held something up, but tossed it back down after looking at it. Finally, she found a blue top with bell sleeves that laced up in the back. It had a matching skirt that slit at the thigh, and both had braided brown rope at the edges. "It'll have to do." Ai shrugged, taking it back to her room. She pulled off the nightclothes, and went through the daily procedure of pulling on her bra and lacing up the fishnet mesh. She took the clothes and laced it up tightly so it would fit better. As she left the house, she was sure to take her large leather bag that held her big iron fan.

Ai arrived at the sandy training grounds and found Gaara already there. He motioned for her to come over there, and she complied.

"Heh, whats up?" She asked curiously.

"Do you want to spar?" He asked her in his monotone.

"Umm… Ok." She distanced herself a fair distance away, and formed a fighting stance. Gaara back up and crossed his arms. Then the spar commenced.

Dust flew through Ai's face, as she pulled out her weapon. As she expected, the fan was incredibly lightweight. She swung the fan around, and a short air current flew torwards Gaara. The normally razor sharp current was blocked by a barricade of sand. She gritted her teeth, and striked the air even harder. Sand began to fall in small grains, but still managed to block the air. "Well this isn't working." She muttered under her breath.

A half hour past, and Ai collapsed on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Gaara asked, reaching out a hand.

"Yeah. Just a little wiped out." She panted.

"Oh! Hey Ai! Hey Gaara!" A familiar voice called out. Both turned their heads, and saw Mae, their purple haired teammate. Ai took Gaara's hand, and climbed up. She gave a slight wave towards Mae, and Gaara grunted. Mae engaged in conversation that Ai didn't really pay attention to, and Gaara stared off at the clouds.

Machiko observed her students over the edge of the roof, attentively watching every action. "Hmm.. Ai is a little over decent fighter, but Gaara.. he's near impossible cto beat. I wonder how good Mae is with that sword.. I guess I'll just have to find out today." She thought to herself. She tossed her weight over the side of the roof, landing skillfully on the ground.

"Alright! Training begins now!" She shouted once she got her footing. "Its pretty basic, one-on-one sparring." Ai sighed, she had just finished sparring. "The process will go like this: Ai versus Mae, then the winner faces Gaara."

Ai decided that it would be best not to start off with her fan. "If I apply enough chakra into my blows, I should win easily." She grabbed a kunai and prepared it. "Here I go!" She ran forward, applying chakra into each step and into the kunai. Mae saw her coming, and shot her hand up to her back, readying her sword. Before Ai could lay a hit, the clang of metal was heard. The kunai and katana had clashed together, and the two pressed against eachother. "What was it Kankurou said about Mae's sword…?" Ai thought. Mae had overpowered Ai, sending her flying a few feet back. Ai had felt the chakra being sucked from her kunai. "Damn it. Now I remember. Chakra blade. Oh crap." Ai figured to change her strategy. Ai backed up, until the two were a few feet away from eachother. Ai returned her kunai to its pouch, and replaced it with six shuriken. She pulled her arms into position, crossed against her chest. She applied chakra once more into her feet, jumping against a nearby log, and flung them at Mae. Mae saw them coming, and reached her thumb around to a near-invisible button toward the bottom of the edge, and pressed it. Instantly, another side to shot out, and she spun it around, deflecting all the metal shuriken. "Crap. That didn't work. Alright, taijutsu then." Ai formed a quick seal, and ran toward Mae. Mae whacked Ai, which dissappeared in a puff of smoke, and was replaced with a log.

"A substitution?!" Mae shouted.

"Haha! You've been logged!" Ai shouted, as she jumped, and kicked the weapon out of Mae's hands.

"Shit." Ai landed a high kick into Mae's stomach, who fought back with a hard punch to the shoulder. Ai continued pumping chakra all around into her body, and tried to kick the purple haired girl off her feet, but Mae quickly crouched down, and yanked Ai's foot away, sending her off into the sand.

In the end, it was midday, and Mae had defeated Ai with a hard punch to the jaw. Machiko-sensei looked over at the sun.

"Sorry, but we're out of time for today. Next time, Mae can have her match with Gaara." Mae shrugged, and Ai rubbed her sore jaw. Gaara began to walk off.

"See ya later Mae!" Ai called as she waved goodbye. "Bye Gaara!" Gaara grunted a little, and gave a little wave. Ai began to walk home.

As Ai approached her house, she saw three masked ANBU at the door. "What the hell?" She thought.

"Ummm… Why are you here?" She asked. One of the ANBU turned to the one next to him. The other nodded.

"I'm sorry Ai-san." He said sympathetically.

"Why? Did something bad happen?" She asked, confused.

"Ai-san… Your parents are dead."

"What?! No! They-They can't be!" She shoved her way past them, and ran into her house. "Mom?! Dad?!" She yelled. She sprinted to their room, and saw something she would never forget. The bedroom was stained with blood, and her parents were sprawled motionless on the floor. She rushed over to her parents, and bent over. Her father's eyes were open, and were glazed over, the green color they once were faded to an eternal gray. "Dad…" A kunai was through his heart, cuts and gashes criss-crossed everywhere over his skin and clothes. She turned to her mother, whose condition was just as terrible. Her eyes were rolled into the back of her head. Blood trickled out from her mouth, and a deep gash was in her neck. A kunai was also through her heart. Ai removed the kunai from her parents bodies, and shut their eyes. One of the ANBU had walked in, and crouched down next to her. He gathered her up into a sympathetic embrace. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she began to sob. "Why?..." she whimpered.

"They had just come back from their mission in the Waterfall Village…" The masked ninja whispered. "When they reached their bedroom, a Rain Ninja was there, and murdered them. They… couldn't fight back." The ANBU seemed sad as well. "I-I'm Hiroshi. Your father… he was my best friend." The man removed his bird mask, and revealed his face. He had dark tanned skin, and deep brown hair. Ai sobbed, and a single tear fell down the man's face. "A funeral has been arranged for them tonight." His voice cracked, "You need to come."

Three hours had passed since Ai had arrived home. She had removed the wedding necklace from her mother's neck. It was the only thing on the body that she didn't want to be burned. She was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, when she heard a knock on the door.

"Ai?" A familiar voice called through the door. "Ai, it's me. I heard about the funeral." Ai got up, and opened the front door. Mae was there, her purple hair tied back in a low ponytail. She was wearing an entirely black kimono. "Ai, you probably should get ready now." She said in an unusually quiet tone. Ai nodded, and went back to her closet. She pulled out a black kimono with a white obi and put it on. She braided her long black hair, and put on her aqua colored earrings. She saw her mother's neclace on her dresser, and strung it around her neck. She walked out, the two of them heading towards the cemetery. As they walked in silence, Gaara joined them. He was in a black jinbei with a black obi. They continued walking without a word. When they finally reached the cemetery, it was full of other ninja, including Kankurou and Temari. They walked over to them. Temari managed a smile, and waved. Kankurou waved slightly.

"Hey." He said nearly inaudibly. Mae walked up to them first and blushed when Kankurou looked at her.

"Hey."She managed to whisper. They turned around when a tapping was heard over the microphone.

"Excuse me. Could Kumino Ai please come up for her speech?" The raspy voice of a council member asked. The group turned to Ai, and she turned down her head, and walked up to the podium. The cold night air blew her hair and skirt, and she nervously pushed her fingers together.

"Uh… Well, my parents were good people. My mother's name was Etsu, and loved to arrange flowers. My father's name was Fudo, and loved playing shoji. I-I remember when I was younger…" Ai choked back tears. "We used to get together somewhere and have a picnic." She brushed a tear from her cheek. "Dad would show me his forehead protector and tell about being a ninja." People looked at her puzzled "And when I came home from the Academy, he'd show me our family's signature weapon." More tears rolled down her cheeks. "He said that I could have it when I proved myself as a ninja to him. H-he a-a-also said that it had saved him whenever he was in a-a life or d-death situation." She stuttered as she sniffed back tears, which came down anyway, "I-I guess it didn't save him this time. I only wish I could have proven myself to him." Ai was now sobbing, tears pattering down onto the wood of the podium. "Th-they…. They didn't deserve to die!..." She clenched her fists. A sharp pain stung in her heart. She ran from the podium, tears streaming. She tried to run from the cemetery itself, but before she could, Gaara grabbed her.

"You shouldn't run from your pain." He whispered gently. She buried her face into his shirt, wrapping her arms around his neck. He looked down at her, surprised at first, but then wrapped his arms around her waist, and patted her back.

"But….but it hurts so much…" She whimpered.

"If you don't endure it… It might never go away." He consoled. She sniffled, and looked back up at the funeral procession. The two ANBU who had been at Ai's house, and Hiroshi, carried her father's body, and two other shinobi carried her mother. White roses surrounded the bodies, as well as white orchids, Etsu's favorite flower. As the bodies were laid on a table, a line began to say final goodbyes, and place a flower on the body before it was burned. The line began with Hiroshi and the now unmasked ANBU, each holding two white roses. The line went on, and finally, it was Ai and Gaara's turn. Gaara still had his arm around her waist. He released her and said, "Go say goodbye."

She walked towards the table, and took one white rose, and one daffodil.

"Sayonara, Okkasan." She whispered as she set the daffodil on her mother's chest. "Sayonara, Otottsan." She whispered as she laid the rose on her father's chest. "I wish you both good luck in the after life." She let two more tears fall. One landed on her father's face, the other on her mother's. She walked off, Gaara soon following, and she returned to his embrace.

Gaara's POV

Before I re-joined Ai, I asked her parents to watch her. Normally, I don't think I would have done this for anyone else. But somehow, when I'm around her, I feel…. different. Like I know that someone else can care about me besides myself.

Yeah I know, depressing, but I felt emo when I came up with it, and liked the idea. Review, please, flames welcome, just try not to be too harsh. I hope you enjoyed!

Dictionary link: http://linear. http://en.

For the word "Jinbei" look it up on Wikipedia.