Finally back from the dead! You know how you can be kind of stressed out, or at least busy, and when you finally fall down in the couch and have a vacation you are suddenly able to write and can't stop? That is how my every Christmas vacation is ^^ Suddenly using most of my time in the house with nothing of the regular, every-day life bothering for my attention makes me unable to stop my writing, despite just having gotten a Nintendo DS and having my interest in Pokemon reawakened with Diamond and Black colors!

Reviews:

TgrezzTail: Sorry it took so long. I hope it helps to know that my main story, Bound to Change, is done in four or five chapters, so this one will be moving on soon.

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

Warnings: See chapter one.

I just hope some people will still be interested in the story.

Hunter or Prey

The blade was directing itself towards his head, its sharp edges cutting through the sand trying to protect him. It hit his face, parted his head and got out on the other side. The boy jumped backwards, watching the lack of blood confusedly. This way of fighting was not normal for him, and the body he had just destroyed fell to the ground as a pile of sand, making him even more confused.

The ground moved beneath him, and he jumped backwards as fast as he could, landing on his right leg and turning his head slowly around to find out where his enemy was. The ground moved again beneath his feet, and he hurriedly jumped back before he could get sucked down or whatever else that sand would do. He glimpsed the enemy ten steps behind and whipped around, his steps fast and precise as he closed in on the other, who watched him unmovingly.

Gaara directed the sand to the small figure again, trying to catch him from both the front and behind, but with an eye-dazzling jump he managed to get out of the way and continued to close in on his target. He swirled in and out of the mountains of sands coming to crush him, and in the cold eyes of the redheaded boy fear was spreading. This was like the weirdo in the green suit, except for the fact that this one was not tiring out, was immediately able to break his defense, and seemed to be, if possible, just as fast or faster than the teen when those powers he held were forced to open.

He did not mind the physical pain… it felt so real when it happened… but he did not want to die. Dying was for prey, not hunters, and he was never the prey. He had to make sure that was not going to be.

He tried to be more offensive, to make the sand move faster, and a slight worry made his stomach knot in a way he had not met before. Temari's wound did not seem bad, but Kankurou had been stabbed in the back, and they might need help. He had to do this quickly, and do whatever he was able to for those two. Even if he did not know how, he had to help them!

But these thoughts were not in the conscious part of his mind, only in the feeling of his body that made his determination to kill the other even stronger than the strongest lust for blood he had ever felt. He finally moved, lifting his hands to put more pressure on the movements of the sand, getting more and more determined to win this.

The smaller felt the difference and was just a swordcut away from his target when he was forced to jump backwards again, landing on the tip of his toes of his left foot and was off again, leaping to the side, landing on the toes of his right foot, going forward again to the redhead and ending fully on the ball of his left foot while the right drew forward with more speed than force.

The sand tried to stop his movement, but the foot passed through, hitting Gaara in the chest and sending him flying towards the rocks with the venomous moss. As if a miracle had happened he was able to concentrate on the parted sand while still in the air, and it caught the foot before the stranger could draw it back. He stood up again and smiled as the boy tried to slice the sand away from his foot with the sword, then sent it off, throwing the small human towards the trees on the far side of the field.

The boy hit the trunk feet first and jumped back into the air and closer to the redhead without even seeming hurt from the collision, but found that he was immediately surrounded by sand once more. He managed to get the a fraction of footing of the moving sand grabbing for his front and jumped towards the ground again, and down there, he moved his feet fast again to get out of the way from the oceans of sand once more. The sword in his hand flung at a wall that rose before him, only just managing to get past it before it closed behind him in an attempt to crush him. Then he continued forward, going for Gaara again, and his agility made it possible for him to still avoid the constant assault of sand.

Despite the fuel of worry unconsciously driving his actions, Gaara was losing more chakra than he liked, and he was searching for a way to drive the other back more effectively. The black blade of the sword reached for his face and he was forced to take a step back not to get hit by it. Now he even moved. He nearly tripped over one of the giant stones as he stepped, and threw himself to the side as the blade sliced towards the ground, trying to cleave his body in half.

Let me help you, a voice said in his head as he used the sand to push himself away from the boy. Give yourself to me once again, and the blood of this beast will seep. We want it to seep, do we not? We want to taste it and feel it and smell how good it is. Fall asleep, child, just fall asleep.

He was contemplating whether he should do so or not when those stones demanded his attention, for just the glimpse of a second. An idea reached his mind, and a smirk broadened on his face. Those pupil-less eyes gleamed with that insanity able to strike fear into even the bravest heart, and the fight had stayed still for a few seconds after his dodge.

The boy stood on one leg once again, the other leg on the standing one, the foot of the free leg resting a little lower on the knee of its standing counterpart. His hands were rounded in front of him, the sword resting against both of his palms and the pointy end reaching downwards for the ground. The all-black eyes tried to copy the faint movements they had caught in the turquoise at his front, trying to find the reason for the sudden change in the other's face, and obvious fear were spreading on the more childish, already very worried face. He knew something drastic was about to change the course of the battle, and that it had filled his enemy with a dangerous lust.

'I will win this battle myself and make you proud, right mother? I have a plan.'

The demon inside his head sought for the thoughts that had reached his vessel, and his satisfaction broadened in the chest of the boy as if it was his own happiness, making him filled with even more bloodlust. I like your way of thinking. You have become a very good child; a very clever child.

The smirk on the redheaded boy's face broadened a little more as he guided the sand around the bottom of the stones he and his siblings had formerly been sitting on, but he did it so carefully and silently between the long straws of grass so his enemy could not see it. The white-haired boy began to tremble, and if it was of fear or anticipation it was impossible to decide even if the fear was ingrained in his face.

Finally he no longer was able to stand still and wait, and he took the sword fully in his left hand and moved. Nearly having adapted to the incredible speed of the boy, Gaara made his move the second he felt the other begin his run, lifting the stones up and rolling towards his victim. The boy saw this and made a somersault to get out of the way from the rolling boulders. Only to be hit with the real attack of Gaara's.

The second wave of sand was not filled with boulder, only that toxic moss, and it hit the boy and made him fly back like had it been a wave of water. He was once again able to find some way to jump to the side, gracefully landing on the ground beside the sand that had tried to drown him. Then an ear piercing scream erupted from his lips, and he fell to the ground on all fours, his whole body trembling. Even from where Gaara stood, he could see blisters and abscesses form on the pale skin, filling most of the right side of the smaller's face and arm.

The smaller tried to touch it, but winced the moment the tips of his fingers met with the sore skin. The redhead was utterly satisfied with the reaction he had gotten, and even more satisfied with the praise he was getting in his inner ear. Then he lifted his hand again, ready to finish the battle. Ready to get the thrill, feel the relief and smell that delicious blood. He was ready to feel alive once more.

The sand reached for the small, paining form, and the black eyes looked up with another wave of fear in his eyes. He jumped back at the last second and reached a one-legged stance, again moving with elegance. But his sword was gone from his hands, lying where he had fallen, and a new kind of fear reached his face than when he saw it. It was not like when he had seen the smirk on the redhead's face. This fear was filled with another kind of desperation than before and was utterly terrified.

He ran towards it, the sand reaching for him for every second step. He swerved around, and it was as though every wave of sand was his partner in a bloody dance, every new step more of a jump and a dive or a leap than the regular put-one-foot-in-front-of-the-other normal persons preferred. His speed was not affected by much at the pain his face showed for every movement. These movements had gotten less precise, though, by the haze the pain and poison created in his mind, and the sand continuously scraped again his skin, damaging it even more than the moss already had.

He when he reached the sword, Gaara created a barrier around it, realizing only then what the boy's target had been. Turning away to get the barrier behind his back, he leaped to the air and flew over it with less than the width of a finger and landed on his hands with the hilt of the sword beneath the right palm. He balanced himself, reaching the ground behind his head with his feet and got to stand again just in time to jump to the side, a new mass of sand trying to bury him.

It was the first time Gaara noticed his enemy out of breath, and his smirk broadened when he realized the poison had more effect than he thought. It was getting harder for the other to breathe, and that was absolutely great. This person was strong, stronger in battle than most Gaara had ever met… And now he got the honor to kill him.

The fly was annoying, though, and continued to evade the attempts to slap it. It moved closer and closer, like it had done before, slicing the sand with its sword and turning and swirling and dancing and jumping around the attacks Gaara bombarded it with. But the demon no longer felt threatened by the speed of the victim, already able to taste the blood of his prey.

Maybe this was why it all went wrong.

The boy continued to get closer, continued to evade and continued to having a harder and harder time breathing. And in a sudden flash, he made a backwards jump that was so fast, so long and so precise that he ended behind Gaara without the redhead even realizing it before the second he had to save himself was past. The black blade pierced his back, going through flesh, missing a lung with so little distance that the spongy organ touched it when the redhead gasped in surprise at the pain and filled it with air and breaking a rib on its way through his chest.

The sandshield that was still flying behind the demon's vessel had been stabbed right through in the same movement that had hit the redhead's back, and the hole in shield floated around the blade in what could have been described as a confused manner if you thought it able to think.

Then Gaara slowly turned his head to the side just as the boy was about to draw his blade back to finish his job, and the flying sand grabbed his arm hard. The demon in the body of the redhead was what the stranger met in the turquoise eyes, and a smile grazed the preteen's lips. "Well done. You wounded me." The grip of the sand was getting unbearably tight, and the stranger tried to drag himself free. "Now, you die!"

The sand was creeping up his arm, reaching for more vital parts of his body, and in the desperate fight to get away, he accidently twisted the sword around, this time cutting the lung and scraping again the others spine. Gaara cried out in pain, instinctual actions making his sand crushing the part of the boy's arm that was already surrounded.

Where Gaara had simply cried, the boy screamed, his agony so strong the part of him that was not held up by the flying sand collapsed. His eyes were lowered, tears streamed down his dusty and blistered cheeks, and his breathing was getting more and more painful as the parts that had been touched by the moss had begun to swell. Half of his neck was covered in those blisters and abscesses, and that meant his windpipe was getting pressured and tightened.

"P-please, sir. I-I had to kill you. I was ordered. I-I d-did not want to, s-sir, I promise, I did not want to. P-please, we-we do not both h-have to d-die." He sounded so desperate and begging, but Gaara did not care. He was used to and loved when they asked him for mercy. It confirmed him in his doing, that he was truly real. And the sand continued to crawl.

Blood was pouring out of both of them, from Gaara's chest and the boy's crushed arm. Gaara felt a dizziness he had never experienced before and stared confusedly down at his body when it began to sway. The smaller continued to beg, trying to pry the sand away with the free hand, which was the one that had been in contact with the moss. Then Gaara collapsed too, with the sword still halfway through his chest. The loss of blood was too much for him.

The sand gave in when Gaara lost half of his consciousness, his eyes staring blindly at the grass they laid in. His vision was blurred. What was this feeling? Why was he getting so weak? He was quite sure he could not move his body properly… just as he was quite sure this feeling did not come from loss of chakra.

He barely registered the sound of footsteps and did not acknowledge the presence of other humans even when the blurred form of a shoe came into his view. He felt something touch him, and the lack of reaction from the sand made him decide it was not of ill intent… Wonder if his siblings were awake again? Maybe they would help him. This was such a weird feeling… What was happening…?

He felt what he thought had to be the sword getting removed, and the sand reacted at his pain, trying to push the stranger away. But it did not seem to surprise whoever was trying to help him, and he had succeeded in removing the sword totally from his body by his fast movements.

A face came into view as someone guided his head upwards, but the turquoise eyes were far too blurred to make it out. "Do not dare to fall asleep, Gaara," a voice warned him, a voice he recognized but did not remember. The face in front of him seemed white at the top and black at the bottom, near nothing with the color of human skin. And this person knew his name, whoever it was. "Do not dare to lose consciousness." It was so familiar…

So familiar…

Finally the third chapter of the story is here. Naruto's arch begins in the next chapter, whenever that will be up. I won't promise you anymore than that not a year will pass before I send it. If it then is within two weeks or ten months I cannot say.

Enjoy in joy ^^